Shining Cloud, What Is That ?

The night sky will usually only lit moon and stars. However, in very rare cases, the night sky can also be illuminated by the luminous clouds that reflect sunlight.

Luminous cloud formed at an altitude of 80-85 kilometers in the atmosphere. Light clouds are actually reflected sunlight. Location of high cloud which enabled him to reflect light even though the sun itself has sunk.

Typically, a phenomenon which is also called the polar cloud mesospheres occurs when the temperature decreases to -130 degrees Celsius. Most likely, the phenomenon occurred in the northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere, the region above 50 degrees latitude.

Deland Mathhews of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center told Space.com, last week, the phenomenon was initially rare. Over the last 11 years studying, Deland only find it once.

However, Deland said, the phenomenon is now increasingly common and the light became brighter. He guessed, this increase is associated with changes in temperature and humidity in the mesosphere.

Decrease in temperature causes more ice or clouds are formed. The higher humidity lead to the formation of larger ice particles, which can reflect more light.

By increasing the number of glowing cloud phenomenon, may lower the temperature of the mesosphere. Deland said, the increase in the amount of greenhouse gas could be because the temperature drop.

Carbon dioxide-one of the greenhouse gases that radiates heat into space, causing cooling. Methane makes humidity increases because sunlight will convert methane into the water.

So far, researchers are not sure of the most influential factor, whether the humidity or temperature. However, Deland sure, it will be the focus of future research.

Noted, this phenomenon last occurred in Billund, Denmark, on July 15, 2010. Deland has studied this cloud of data from data and satellite instruments since 1978.