Mystery weather phenomenon spotted all over Northern Europe – including the UK – as skies light up an eerie shade of blue in the middle of the night
Star gazers left baffled by bright formations that made it seem like sunrise
WEATHER watchers were left baffled by spectacular lights in the skies over Northern Europe and parts of the UK in the middle of the night on Monday.
Breathtaking photos taken at around 2am show how eerie blue formations appeared in the heavens.
They were so bright that it appeared as though the sun was rising hours early.
The phenomenon was spotted in cities across the north of the continent including in the North East of Britain.
Dr Michael Theusner, meteorologist at the Climate House in the German harbour city of Bremerhaven, was one of the many who spotted the stunning weather display.
He explained: "The clouds are so high up in the atmosphere that they are illuminated by the sun, while darkness prevails on the surface."
"They form in the extremely thin air at temperatures below minus 120 degrees [Celsius], in which the few bits of water vapour freeze to ice crystals."
The official term of the phenomenon is noctilucent clouds, which translates from Latin to mean "night clouds".
They form around 50 miles up and display a dazzling bright blue/green hue.
Normally clouds form up to just eight miles high.
In addition, the sun must between exactly six and 16 degrees below the horizon for the light to bounce off the clouds.
In Northern Europe this is only possible from the beginning of June to the middle of July.
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Dr Theusner said: "The best way to experience it is during clear nights when no normal clouds obscure the view, from about an hour after sunset until an hour before sunrise.
"They are now more frequent than 10 to 20 years ago, and are also more often seen in southern regions as well as with us."
It was also witness in the UK in mid June. Twitter user Peter Fletcher wrote in just after midnight on June 16: "Interesting clouds in a clear sky north of Newcastle. Not a good moth night".
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