Noctilucent Clouds in Antarctica

In one of the incredible sunsets that I had during the one-year residency in Antarctica, some clouds appeared that had different look. We were astonished, for a moment in incognito mode. I tried to use my dearest Bellatrix (my camera) to reveal what our eyes couldn’t see. Common clouds are made of water crystal and the dust in the air. But these Noctilucent Clouds are formed at the edge of our atmosphere, in the mesosphere. When a meteor hits the atmosphere, it leaves behind a trail of dust at a distance of 100 km above the earth, where the air pressure is almost empty. The color electric whitish blue is caused by frozen water vapor adhering to meteorite dust made up of tiny crystals.

Panorama of 8 photos at iso2500, exp 1/4sec, f3.5, Rokinon 20mm, Sony a7s