Water droplets scatter light in a rainbow-like effect visible from space.
Published Jan 1, 2014
People have been marveling at glories for centuries, but satellites offer a unique perspective on the colorful optical phenomenon.
Published Jun 23, 2018
Night-shining clouds high in the atmosphere over the southern polar region appear in shades of blue and orange in this astronaut photo from January 30, 2010.
Published Feb 22, 2010
As spring turns to summer in the northern hemisphere, unusual streaks of clouds form high in the atmosphere around sunset.
Published Jun 27, 2019
Crepuscular rays stream through the clouds over India, providing scientific and spiritual inspiration.
Published Oct 31, 2011
Some astronauts say these wispy, iridescent clouds are the most beautiful phenomena they see from orbit.
Published Aug 20, 2013
Normally seen only at twilight, polar mesospheric clouds are illuminated by “sunrise” in this astronaut photo from June 16, 2010.
Published Jul 5, 2010
Patches of open-celled clouds off the west coast of Peru offer beautiful glimpses of the sea—and pointers to where rain may have fallen.
Published Aug 7, 2018
Parallel “roll clouds” over the Pacific Ocean were likely influenced by the development of Tropical Cyclone Cook.
Published Apr 15, 2017
Hole-punch and canal clouds form when aircraft pass through altocumulus clouds that are rich with supercooled water droplets.
Published Dec 30, 2015
Sometimes the atmosphere churns up peculiar-looking cloud formations that are as notable for aesthetic reasons as they are for scientific ones.
Published May 29, 2018
Low, moist ocean clouds outline South American country’s coastal desert.
Published May 31, 2014
The rare night-shining clouds seen in this photo are both forming more frequently and becoming brighter, trends that point to changes in the atmosphere linked to greenhouse gases.
Published Jan 27, 2011
It takes infrared imaging to distinguish snow from clouds over the Pacific Northwest.
Published Dec 13, 2015
Noctilucent clouds float high enough in the atmosphere to capture a little bit of stray sunlight even after the Sun has set below them.
Published Dec 2, 2016
Hole-punch and canal clouds form when aircraft pass through altocumulus clouds that are rich with supercooled water droplets.
Published Dec 20, 2014
Extremely cold and wet conditions in the mesosphere have led to abundant noctilucent clouds.
Published Jul 9, 2020
Even without a map overlay, global cloud patterns can reveal the shape and location of many of Earth’s continents. This global map of cloud fraction in October 2009 demonstrates the pattern.
Published Nov 17, 2009
Polar mesospheric clouds (also known as noctilucent, or “night-shining” clouds) are transient, upper atmospheric phenomena that are usually observed in the summer months at high latitudes (greater than 50 degrees) of both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. They appear bright and cloudlike while in deep twilight. They are illuminated by sunlight when the lower layers of the atmosphere are in the darkness of Earth’s shadow.
Published Aug 4, 2008
Clouds and snow whiten different parts of central Europe in this image from early November 2011.
Published Nov 15, 2011
