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Noctilucent Clouds Near Portland, Ore.
Noctilucent clouds (NLCs), or "night-shining clouds," photographed by Vince Varnas from the roof of his house near Portland, Ore., on July 23, 2009. The NLCs were in the north-northwest sky about 10 miles west of Portland.
On viewing the NLCs Varnas says, "I first observed the NLCs at approximately 9:30 p.m. PDT. The NLCs were mostly iridescent white, at that time, but gradually changed color to iridescent blue over the next 25 minutes. I took this photograph at 9:55 p.m. PDT. I have only seen NLCs from my location one other time. That was on July 15, 2009, at about the same time. Then the NLCs were more in the northwest and not as intense as those on July 23. I had been watching for NLCs all summer, as I knew they were occurring over Europe, but not in the United States. I am an amateur radio operator and also observed intense sporadic-E propagation on July 23, during the occurrence of these NLCs." (Date of Image: July 23, 2009)
Credit: ©2009 Vince Varnas
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