Californian residents were expecting a rocket launch last night but were instead left baffled when it was cancelled and replaced with a mysterious glowing cloud.
The cancelled launch of the Delta IV Heavy rocket in Southern California left residents scrabbling for an explanation to explain the bizarre formation.
Social media was abuzz with speculation as people uploaded pictures and videos of the strange light.
The University of California’s Lick Observatory near San Jose, said the eerie cloud was formed when a meteor burned up in the upper atmosphere.
In a Facebook post, the observatory said: ‘A bright meteor was visible in the skies over the Bay Area shortly after sunset this evening, leaving a bright trail that was visible for many minutes in the western sky.’
Initial reports of the meteor sighting began at 5:30 pm local time and people took to Twitter to discuss the phenomenon.
One Californian said: ‘It flashed bright green for a few seconds as it fell and appeared to split up. biggest, most impressive asteroid (?) I’ve ever seen.’
The National Weather Service office in the Bay Area said ‘we saw it here at the office.’
‘Anyone else see this interesting cloud feature?’ the NWS tweeted.
The short-lived blinding light from the meteor was replaced by a mysterious trail across the sky after it burned up.
National Weather Service Bay Area later revealed the light was likely to be a noctilucent cloud.
The clouds give off a shocking blue haze when ice crystals fixed to tiny particles of ‘meteor dust’ high in the atmosphere reflect sunlight.
Formation of ice crystals is a process known as ‘nucleation’, hence the name.
The clouds form in the middle of the atmosphere, in a layer known as the mesosphere – also the region where most meteors are destroyed.
Researchers have noted an increase in noctilucent clouds due to human-induced climate change causing increased water vapour in the atmosphere.
Californian residents were expecting a rocket launch last night but were instead left baffled when it was cancelled and replaced with a mysterious glowing cloud. Social media was abuzz with speculation as people uploaded pictures and videos of the strange light
Noctilucent clouds give off a shocking blue haze when ice crystals fixed to tiny particles of ‘meteor dust’ high in the atmosphere reflect sunlight. Formation of ice crystals is a process known as ‘nucleation’, hence the name
‘We speculate that the clouds have always been there, but the chance to see one was very, very poor, in historical times,’ said Franz-Josef Lübken, an atmospheric scientist at the Leibniz Institute of Atmospheric Physics in Kühlungsborn, Germany and lead author of the new study in Geophysical Research Letters.
According to NASA, they are normally observed seasonally, during summer in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres, when the mesosphere is at its most humid, sending water vapor up from lower altitudes.
At this time, it is also the coldest place on Earth, hitting temperatures as low as -210 degrees Fahrenheit as a result of air flow patterns.
The cancelled launch of the Delta IV Heavy rocket in Southern California left residents scrabbling for an explanation to explain the bizarre formation. The University of California’s Lick Observatory near San Jose, said the eerie cloud was formed when a meteor burned up in the upper atmosphere
The short-lived blinding light from the meteor was replaced by a mysterious trail across the sky after it burned up. National Weather Service Bay Area later revealed the light was likely to be a noctilucent cloud
Studying these clouds provides insight on the behaviour of this layer of the atmosphere, and its role relative to other layers, weather, and climate, the researchers say.
Humans first spotted the clouds in 1885, after the eruption of Krakatoa volcano in Indonesia spewed massive amounts of water vapor in the air.
Sightings became more common in the 20th century, and by the 1990s researchers began wondering if climate change was making them more visible.
Researchers used satellite observations and climate models to simulate how the effects of increased greenhouse gases have contributed to noctilucent cloud formation over the past 150 years.
Extracting and burning fossil fuels delivers carbon dioxide, methane and water vapor into the atmosphere, all of which are greenhouse gases.