In the early morning hours of June 30th, ghostly clouds hovered in
the east in this view of
near dawn
skies over western France.
The noctilucent
or night-shining clouds lie near the
edge
of space,
reflecting sunlight from about 80 kilometers above Earth's surface.
Usually spotted above the poles in summer, they are now seen
with increasing frequency farther from the poles, in this case
extending to
the photographer's latitude of about 48 degrees north.
The
trend could be a telltale sign of global
changes in the
atmosphere.
Another 400,000 kilometers away, the Moon's sunlit crescent
shines brightly, its night side illuminated
by Earthshine.
Of course, as a bonus for early risers
June's old crescent Moon
was followed closely
across the sky by the lovely
Pleiades star cluster, surrounded
by cosmic dust clouds and shining from a mere 400 light-years away.
