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POPSPersian Clouds - NLC's going south
Spaceweather says: "Noctilucent clouds (NLCs) are supposed to be a high-latitude phenomenon, most often seen in Canada, Russia and northern Europe. On July 19th the electric-blue clouds crept south, all the way to Iran: "I took this picture from Mt. Sabalan, a 15,784 ft extinct volcano in northwestern Iran," says Siamak Sabet. "It is the third highest peak in our extremely mountainous country." When noctilucent clouds first appeared in the late 19th century, they were confined to latitudes above 50o N. Mt Salaban is located at 38o N, far below the old threshold. Just last week, NLCs were sighted in Turkey at 40o N and in recent years they have appeared at least as far south in the United States as Colorado and Utah, also around 40o N. Why are NLCs spreading south? That is an unsolved mystery of these puzzling clouds. Some researchers believe it is a telltale sign of climate change, but this remains controversial. One thing is certain: Sky watchers at all latitudes should be ale
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POPSFireball captured QUOTE: "...May 9th, as the sun was rising over Gdansk, Poland, an exploding fireball split the sky. Eye-witness Krzysztof Polakowski of the Polish Fireball Network describes it as a "magnitude -8 meteor" or 40 times brighter than Venus. Believe it or not, this shadow-casting fireball was ... nothing special. According to calculations done by Bill Cooke, head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office, magnitude -8 fireballs appear somewhere on Earth around three times a day. That's almost one hundred a month! Lesser fireballs occur even more often...They are caused mainly by random bits and pieces of asteroid and comet debris crashing into our atmosphere as Earth orbits the Sun...."
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