The season for noctilucent clouds is here again

Friday 29 May 2026, 20:20 by Nando Harmsen | 836 views | 0 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

Noctilucent clouds are relatively rare. Or at least, they used to be. They now occur fairly regularly, almost always in June and July. If you want to see them, look low towards the horizon after sunset. You might be lucky.

Noctilucent Clouds, abbreviated to NLC, or lichtende nachtwolken in Dutch, are beautiful to see. They sometimes even seem to be alive, as they shine with a light of their own while they ripple and wave across the sky.

Noctilucent clouds in 2024
They are clouds that hang about 80 kilometres up in the sky. This is the coldest part of the atmosphere, where ice crystals form that are extremely small. They are only visible when they reflect sunlight.

The movement of noctilucent clouds is fast enough to make a nice timelapse.
Because they hang so high in the sky, it takes up to an hour after sunset before they become visible. It is then so dark that they seem to glow with a bluish light. Sometimes that light is reddish, sometimes golden.

Photographing them is not very difficult. It is a matter of setting the right exposure time. Choose a wide aperture and an ISO value that gives you a shutter speed of between two and ten seconds for a good exposure.

Noctilucent clouds in 2021. You can clearly see the difference between normal clouds and noctilucent clouds.
A short shutter speed is desirable so that the beautiful patterns of noctilucent clouds remain clearly visible. The clouds move quite quickly. If your shutter speed is too slow, you will get motion blur. Also have a look at my article about these clouds.

Noctilucent clouds are difficult or impossible to predict. So it is worth going outside every clear evening, one to one and a half hours after sunset. Look in the direction from north-north-west to north-north-east.

You might also like

• 

  Make clouds soft and fluffy, not hard and harsh

  by Nando Harmsen

• 

  Using Adobe Cloud for smartphone photos

  by Nando Harmsen

• 

  Using Lightroom Without a Catalogue

  by Nando Harmsen

• 

  Autumn is coming again. Five ideas for photographing

  by Nando Harmsen

• 

  A reason to use an extra-long exposure

  by Nando Harmsen

• 

  Use a foreground for star photos

  by Nando Harmsen

0 comments

Have your say

Please note: Articles older than a week can only be commented on by signed-in visitors.
Would you still like to comment? sign in or create a free account.