List of 7 beautiful and amazing sky phenomena you won’t believe exists:
Nacreous Clouds, Arctic Environments
Nacreous clouds are part of the arctic environments when the lee waves by mountains cool the lower stratosphere. The dry atmosphere of the stratosphere with below −78 °C (−108 °F) temperatures helps in achieving these incredible cloud formations. Due to the high altitude of the clouds (49,000–82,000 ft.), they receive sunlight from below the horizon giving a rich color. Polar stratospheric cloud (PSC) is the other name of nacreous clouds. These clouds are usually visible two hours before sunset or before dawn. Due to their vivid iridescent colors, sometimes people call it as mother-of-pearl clouds.
Aurora
Aurora is one of the most magical phenomena in the sky. They have names such as polar lights, northern lights and southern lights. Aurora borealis or the northern lights are the best in terms of their display and illumination. Aurora is a natural light display which forms commonly in the high-latitude regions such as Arctic and Antarctic.
The burning sun having temperatures of 27 million degrees Fahrenheit (15 million degrees Celsius) release what is known as solar wind. Solar winds are particles that escape into space from sunspots. The solar wind takes 40 hours to reach Earth and the result is the breathtaking display of aurora. This magnificent display of lights not only occurs on Earth but also on other planets in our solar system.
Mammatus Cloud
Mammatus cloud is scary and mysterious. Nobody knows how they form. Meteorologist William Clement Ley first described the formation of mammatus cloud in 1894. They have a strange appearance of cell pouches hanging from the base of another cloud. These beautiful clouds form under different environment and sky conditions. There are several theories on how they form and nobody has ever been able to explain this mysterious sky phenomenon. One of the theories explains about cold air sinking down to form pockets of clouds through convection of warm air. Since, they are a form of cumulonimbus rainclouds, mammatus clouds can be dangerous and is an indication of strong storm. Aviators are always cautioned to fly when mammatus clouds appear in the sky.
Morning Glory Clouds, Australia
Morning Glory clouds are a spectacular cloud formation occurring mostly in the Australian sky. The Gulf of Carpentaria in Northern Australia is the only known location in the world where this rare meteorological phenomenon can be predicted. These clouds occasionally do form in other parts of the world. Morning Glory clouds are part of the arcus cloud family which look like beautiful solitary waves or ripples of associated clouds. They form when sea breeze from two directions collide with each other creating a rolling cylinder effect. Rolling cloud is a name for Morning Glory because of their rolling cylinder effects while forming. These clouds stretch for as long as 1 to 2 km. Sometimes, there are groups of rolling clouds or only a single cloud.
Green Flash
Green flash is a beautiful optical phenomenon just after sunset or right before sunrise. The sky conditions should be perfect with a distant horizon, and then the possibility of a green flash is evident. The perfect place to view a green flash is on a sea horizon. That is the reason why many people living near sea area often report seeing them. Green flash occurs as the Earth’s atmosphere has the ability to separate out different colors from the sunlight. There are different types of green flashes and each of them may appear differently. The most common green flash is the one seen after sunset i.e. when the sun is entirely below the horizon.
Fire Rainbow
Fire rainbow is a misleading term for this wonderful sky formation. The real name of “fire rainbow” is circumhorizontal arc. They are a type of ice halos and are an optical phenomenon in the sky. They do not have any relation to rainbow or fire. Circumhorizontal arc form when refraction of sun or moonlight pass through plate-shaped ice crystals suspended in the sky. When they form in full, their appearance is bright and has rich gradients of colors running parallel to the horizon.
Light Pillars
Light pillars are the most amazing sky phenomenon in the world. They are vertical band of lights appearing from a light source. It is an atmospheric optical phenomenon which is formed by the reflection of light from numerous tiny ice crystals in the clouds. They are from the family of halos. Similar to halos, light pillars aren’t physically above the lights but are the combined light beams from all the thousands of tiny ice crystals. Majority of the light pillars occur due to sunlight, so they have the name sun pillars or solar pillars. The source of light for light pillars can also be moon or any other terrestrial lights. Extreme cold weathers can sometimes cause light pillars.
