NASA announces the "beautiful photo" of the luminous cloud: like a postcard from the edge of the universe

According to foreign media reports, on the 17th local time, the NATIONAL SPACE ADMINISTRATION (NASA) released a photo of the noctilucent clouds taken by the International Space Station on social media, and said in the accompanying text that it was beautiful like a "postcard from the edge of the universe".

On February 17, local time, NASA posted photos of "luminous clouds" on social media. Image credit: NASA

According to reports, noctilucent clouds, also known as polar mesostraspheric clouds, refer to a luminous and transparent wavy cloud that appears high in the high latitudes of the Earth during the deep twilight period, reaching a height of up to 80 kilometers above the Earth's surface, making it the highest position cloud in the Earth's atmosphere.

NASA said the photo was taken on the International Space Station, 269 miles from the South Pacific, explaining that such clouds can only be seen when the sun falls on Earth's horizon and illuminates the clouds.

It is reported that when such clouds are seen from space, they are called night-shining clouds; when seen from Earth, they are called nocturnal clouds. Luminous clouds are generally colorless or pale blue, with occasional red, green, and blue.

Editor-in-charge: Tao Zongyao