This image of electric blue noctilucent clouds was taken by
astronaut Don Pettit while he was aboard the ISS. Courtesy of
Don Pettit and NASA TV History of Observation of Noctilucent
Clouds Have you ever seen a noctilucent or "night-shining" cloud
? Don't worry if you haven't - they are a fairly recent
"discovery" in the world of science. Here's what we know! The
first reporting of these eerie clouds was made in the summer of
1885. The observations were made in northern Europe and Russia.
The first photos of these clouds were taken in the late 1880’s.
In the early 1900’s, many scientists were trying to figure out
what made these clouds form in the Earth's atmosphere. To figure
this out, scientists started looking for these clouds more
regularly - first in Europe in the late 1950's and in North
America in the 1960's. The first rocket was launched into a
noctilucent cloud in 1962. In the more recent past, more
observations made from the ground and satellites orbiting the
Earth found that noctilucent clouds are