                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                 2024 July 9
       A dawn sky is shown that is black at the top and brown near the
    horizon. Wispy clouds converge on the right turning from a white to a
   blue hue. Near the apex of this convergence is a crescent moon. Please
             see the explanation for more detailed information.

                       Noctilucent Clouds over Florida
                     Credit & Copyright: Pascal Fouquet

   Explanation: These clouds are doubly unusual. First, they are rare
   noctilucent clouds, meaning that they are visible at night -- but only
   just before sunrise or just after sunset. Second, the source of these
   noctilucent clouds is actually known. In this rare case, the source of
   the sunlight-reflecting ice-crystals in the upper atmosphere can be
   traced back to the launch of a nearby SpaceX rocket about 30 minutes
   earlier. Known more formally as polar mesospheric clouds, the vertex of
   these icy wisps happens to converge just in front of a rising crescent
   Moon. The featured image -- and accompanying video -- were captured
   over Orlando, Florida, USA about a week ago. The bright spot to the
   right of the Moon is the planet Jupiter, while the dotted lights above
   the horizon on the right are from an airplane.

                       Tomorrow's picture: open space
     __________________________________________________________________

       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
                  NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

