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Астронет: Астрономическая картинка дня Необычное облако над Гонконгом http://variable-stars.ru/db/msg/1357563/eng |
Credit & Copyright: Alfred Lee
Explanation:
What's that in the sky?
Earlier this month, in the sky high above
Hong Kong,
China, not just one unusual type
of cloud appeared -- but two.
In the foreground was a long
lenticular
cloud,
a cloud that forms near mountains from uprising air and might appear to some as an
alien spaceship.
Higher in the sky, and further in the background, was a colorful
iridescent cloud.
Iridescent
clouds
are composed of
water droplets of similar size that
diffract different
colors of sunlight by different amounts.
Furthest in the background is the Sun, blocked from direct view by the opaque
lenticular, but providing the light for the colors of
the
iridescent.
Either type of cloud is unusual to see in
Hong Kong,
and unfortunately, after only a few minutes, both were gone.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.