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Credit & Copyright: Goran Strand
Explanation:
Why would these clouds multi-colored?
A relatively rare phenomenon in clouds known as
iridescence can bring up unusual colors vividly or even a whole spectrum of colors simultaneously.
These polar stratospheric clouds
clouds,
also known as
nacreous and mother-of-pearl clouds,
are formed of small
water
droplets of nearly uniform size.
When the Sun is in the
right position and, typically, hidden from direct view,
these
thin clouds can be seen significantly
diffracting sunlight in a nearly coherent manner, with
different colors
being deflected by different amounts.
Therefore,
different colors
will come to the observer from slightly
different directions.
Many clouds start with uniform regions that could show
iridescence but
quickly become too thick, too mixed,
or too angularly far from the
Sun to exhibit striking colors.
The featured image and an
accompanying video were taken
late last year over
Ostersund,
Sweden.
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NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: clouds
Publications with words: clouds
See also:
- APOD: 2024 November 19 Á Undulatus Clouds over Las Campanas Observatory
- APOD: 2024 July 7 Á Iridescent Clouds over Sweden
- APOD: 2023 August 20 Á A Roll Cloud Over Wisconsin
- APOD: 2023 February 12 Á Mammatus Clouds over Nebraska
- Nacreous Clouds over Lapland
- A Retreating Thunderstorm at Sunset
- A Fire Rainbow over West Virginia