|
In my mind's eye I'm going back in time to the night of June 18th/19th 2009, on that night I was sitting in my former home in Maghera preparing for yet another Noctilucent Cloud (NLC) watch during what was turning out to be an unprecedented season. For those of you who don't know I've been a passionate NLC observer since the year 2000, that was the year when I first began visual comet hunting, in fact, May 1st was when that life changing moment first took place. This is why I'm always fond of the month of May and the subsequent warm Summer nights which follow, for bright twilight nights bring back fond memories of searching the sky with my telescope for new comets.
A Summer nights comet sweep always begins late and ends early, the entire comet 'haystack' region close to the sun is present over a broad area of sky and many areas near the horizon are so bright it would seem almost impossible to find anything during these searches, however I tried anyway and that is how I got started. What stood out to me though was one particular morning when I ended searching before 03.00 and as I packed away the telescope I would do one last naked eye scan of the sky before going to bed. This would often involve climbing our garden fence to see beyond the trees in our garden to the NE. When I did I was shocked to witness bizarre alien looking clouds glowing above the horizon with spectacular structure and blue colours, but what on Earth were they?, I did a quick check search through my Astronomy magazines and immediately found out these were 'Noctilucent Clouds' or 'NLCs' for short and they were special, that night I was hooked.
I conducted a research program reading everything I could on the subject, there wasn't much, then began my own visual and photographic patrols every clear night from the year 2000 to the present. I discovered that NLCs are extremely photogenic and visually stunning and that their visibility was suspected to vary in accordance with the solar cycle, in fact, they were the polar opposite of geomagnetic storm occurances. In theory this meant that NLCs should be more prolific around solar minimum however I would never know until that time came as my first sightings took place near solar maximum. Over the years I learned that NLCs were entirely unpredictable on a night to night basis, no two displays were ever the same and their appearance varied tremendously. Some nights there was nothing then I might get treated to three nights in a row of decent displays followed by a drought for a week or more, it was this transient nature which really appealed to me.
Over the years I got treated to spectacular displays, some of my favourite NLCs happened during 2006 however it wasn't until 2009 when I finally got to experience a remarkable season and on the night of June 18th/19th I observed what I described at the time as ''the display of a lifetime'' which was, and still is, a very bold statement to make. 2009 was solar minimum but not only that it was the deepest solar minimum for almost a century and the NLCs which manifested were a testament to that drought in solar storms. While the solar disk remained blank for many days NLCs were appearing with great frequency on an almost night to night basis. At first they formed low on the horizon but soon myself and other NLC observers were awed to see them growing in expanse with ever increasing complexity, we were witnessing displays of a caliber we had never seen before in our lives. It was a common sight to see reports appearing on the forums (no socials back then) from observers shocked to spot the clouds in the sky soon after sunset, then as twilight deepened they could be seen overhead.
One evening after 23.00 I opened my front door, stepped outside and was shocked to see NLCs above the roof top glowing blue with what I can only describe as 'solid' structure, not the tenuous NLC I was accustomed to seeing, these were on another level entirely and reminded of images I had seen of displays captured from further north, if this was NLC storm was an aurora it would be a G5. Overhead displays appeared often before dawn too and it was virtually impossible to get them all on camera or to do them justice, but from a visual perspective they were incredible. Then just when I thought this epic season couldn't get any better it peaked on June 18th, the following are quotes from the original words I wrote on that unforgettable night combined with my current memories and thoughts.
 |
''The was the most spectacular NLC display I've ever seen in my life. I hope from reading the Noctilucent Cloud article that new NLC observers will understand the importance of the time of night and position of the Sun which defines the typical NLC window periods during each display, which are after sunset and before dawn, however the lesson here is that during the middle of the night, when the Sun is low, NLCs can produce scenes that are simply unbelievable. This is why any passionate NLC observer should check the sky on a regular basis all through the night for these exceptional moments. The entire display was visible from 23.30 to 03.30 BST, peaked at type 5 brightness (top of the scale) and was 40 degrees (80 full Moon diameters) high and extended from the NW to NE sky sectors''
''The display first appeared during evening twilight and as always I was out watching and taking images. This was in a field near Maghera which was lit by the glow of street lights behind me, looking N and NW. On a normal NLC night this would have been a gorgeous sight on it's own, I suspected from its visual profile that it could turn spectacular later, if only I knew what was in store a few hours into the future! It was already type 5 brightness with vivid pearly white and blue colours showing off, this was probably +50 degrees high at it's tallest point and was spreading out quickly in azimuth. Even at this stage of the evening exceptional structure was evident in the form of bands, lacunosus holes, waves/herringbone (sometimes called billows) and large scale whirls''
 |
I didn't drive back then, in fact, it wouldn't be until later in the year before I began taking lessons then did my test so all my shoots from home were undertaken on foot. Luckily where I lived I was only a short walk from the countryside with a fairly decent view of the N/NW and NE sky sectors with many fields adjacent to the main road. I had three local options at short notice, the first was the orange field in the first image, the second option was to hike out the main Coleraine Road which meant being caught in the headlights of cars and the third was to continue walking along this country road called the Crewe Road which offered more fields and less traffic, so it was there which I walked along, I found a large field near a woodland which marked the old railway line and climbed over a wire fence into long grass and set my camera up for more images.
I didn't even own a DSLR, they were fairly expensive back then so my main camera was a 'bridge camera' called a Fujifilm S6500 fd with 28-300mm (10x) zoom lens which was great but was hindered by being 'slow' for astro work with the aperture ranging from F/6.2 to 66.2mm, despite this short coming I absolutely loved this camera, it suited me well and really did serve as the perfect camera before I eventually got my first Canon 450D the following year. The Fujifilm was fully manual exactly like a DSLR, you just couldn't remove and change lenses. So here I was in this field just after midnight (00.13) enjoying yet another good NLC show, the twilight was darkening and the clouds were standing out with greater contrast with each passing minute.
 |
00.22 BST. The silvery clouds were now taking on the classic electric blue colour with more structure becoming evident, I zoomed in to 14mm for a closer look. In proximity to Capella subtle wisps of veil and IIa bands with hints of twisting were emerging with greater clarity however it was the area below Capella, perhaps 5 to 7 degrees above the horizon, where impressive structures were revealing their presence, I could see a concentration of knots, whirls and even squared forms glowing brightly against the background veil which was taking on a hint of yellow-white, this area definitely bared watching. Even though it was a conspicuous display it wasn't the most photogenic of the season, however I knew from experience that NLCs can change fast so I was committed to spending the night out here, I had a strong instinct that I was going to see something special this night and it was just then that low dark clouds appeared over Glenshane and Carntogher moving their way E and soon I was clouded out for good.
I walked back home then the phone rang, it was John McConnell, our chat immediately turned to NLCs, I informed John about the display I was seeing however he was having clouds to the S of Lough Neagh and was waiting on a clearance so our conversation naturally turned back to the sky. John McConnell is a well known amateur astronomer with over 50 years of observing experience, he's well known for his work as an astronomical historian, solar observer, lunar expert, aurora chaser, comet lover, however one of his greatest passions are Noctilucent Clouds. John had been observing these mysterious clouds for as long as he can remember and even met and observed NLCs with sky watching greats such as Dave Gavine and many more. It was our custom every night to take turns to ring one another for a chat, we even talked on the phone while we observed the sky visually hunting for the Gegenschein, comets through the telescope, meteor showers and more. If NLCs showed it wasn't unusual for one of us to even ring at 03.00 after a shoot to discuss the pros and cons of a particular display before submitting our observations then calling it a night.
''I kept looking out the windows on a regular basis for breaks but none were evident. It had been a while since I had seen the display now and knowing full well that it would get better as the night went on I was eager to get a glimpse of it again. While chatting and sipping tea with phone in hand I walked out to my back garden for one last look at the sky, I rounded the corner of my house and glanced to the N and NW where a large clearance had suddenly appeared and what I saw took my breath away''
''I was completely blown away by the spectacle in the sky, I just couldn't believe what I was seeing, it looked like intense 'Rococo'-style alien writing scribed across the sky, it could have been found within the tomb of an ancient Egyptian Pyramid. I went into a panic, I began making strange remarks over the Phone to John saying...''Oh my God, oh my God'' over and over again, ''John, you won't believe the NLC display I'm looking at rite now!, it's the best I have ever seen in my life!'', I recalled thinking that of all the images I have seen on the internet during my years of NLC research not one of them looked like what I was seeing now, this was a major event and I needed to get out now. I just said ''John, I'm away...'', and the phone was back on its cradle''
 |
''I grabbed the camera and tripod and ran out of the house with shoulder bag containing the bridge camera swinging from my waste with nothing but spare AA batteries inside and my only tripod in my right hand, I flipped over the garden gate, ran through the estate and past houses sporting windows with no lights, everyone was asleep, I ran along a paved trail, over a grassy area, down the steep entrance to the estate, across a country road, and jumped over the wire fence into the field I had used before where the streetlights feebly illuminated the grass. I was in a complete panic with adrenaline pumping, my hands were actually shaking as I tried to clip the camera onto the tripod and work out in my head what settings I needed. Time was of the essence, NLCs change by the minute plus more cloud was building from the W and moving in so I needed to act now. There was no way I was going to let this display slip past me without getting good images. The above image is the first of the sequence taken at 01.27 BST at ISO200, aperture stopped down a little with exposures in the 4-6 to 5 second range''
''This was unbelievable!, despite being the darkest time of the night with the lowest Sun elevation I was astounded by just how much this display glowed with outstanding brilliance. The top part of the display was type 4 with the middle and bottom sections type 5. In other words, it was an elite example of a shadow-casting display at the very top of the scale. I could actually see the ground glowing under it's light and the small patches of Trop cloud which drifted lazily by were also reflecting white and blue light from it. The colours were extreme, with electric blue, subtle purple, white, silver, green, a hint of yellow, and the most remarkable deep gold colour, all these together glowing in the sky at the same time was simply stupendous. I had often fantasized about seeing a rare display like this and on this night my dreams had come true. Look at the structure!!!, what's more, the naked eye view was even better than what these images show and that's saying something''
 |
01.27 BST. 22mm focal length with exposure time of 6.5 seconds at ISO200, I stood there in complete awe trying to take images yet at the same time not knowing what I should be doing, my head was rushing with countless thoughts, the display was so amazing it was impacting me on a mental, physical, emotional and even spiritual level. I tried to settle myself and just activate the only two areas of my brain which I needed rite now, the astronomer side and photographer side. When I glanced at the sky the NLCs were so bright my dark adaption was completely affected then when I looked back at the camera I had a dazzled afterglow in my eyes, in fact, I didn't even recall seeing many stars anymore. My heart was still racing from the run, I was sweating, I felt too warm now in my jacket, the night was mild and humid with no wind, flies buzzed around me, then I gradually got into the zone.
 |
01.28 BST. ''I was beside myself with happiness and amazement as I stood in this orange field during the early hours of the morning staring in wide-eyed disbelief at this absolutely spectacular NLC display. I felt like I was part of a dream were time seemed to stand still, with the exception of that orange light from the farm house there was no sign of life in that direction, not even the sound of a distant car on the road, it was just me and the NLCs, it was a magical experience which I shall never forget. The grass was short and dry, it was calm with not even a breeze and the countryside around me was silent. The dark outline of a Bat darting in front of my face broke my trance and I went back to reality once more''
''The majority of stars were washed from the sky from the phenomenal intensity of the display which I could see vividly with phenomenal detail on my camera's LCD screen. Just about every type of NLC structure possible was present here. Thanks to its incredible complexity, which cast shadows onto other sectors of the NLC display, the entire scene looked 3 dimensional with eye-catching depth. Among all the NLC patterns my favourite kind of all prevailed, the large and small scale whirls/twists. A complex NLC display is always at its most spectacular when you view it side-on from an oblique angle, if you wait until it creeps overhead then your viewing angle has naturally changed so you are looking at the NLCs from underneath like the underside of a tenuous blanket. In my opinion it's the oblique displays which are truly the most visually spectacular and this one was the ultimate example''
 |
''Blue on top with silver-white at centre and the gold colour beginning to register on camera at the bottom like sand on a beach. On display were sharp edged IIb bands, shadows, small scale whirls, large scale whirls, loops, pits, lacunous holes, well defined waves/billows with kinks, also knots, billows crossing a band, veil, and even unknown structure which I have never seen before. This looked extremely alien to me in every sense of the word, the motion of the NLCs were absolutely incredible, they actually moved fast!, the ENTIRE display was moving, not as a single entity but different areas were moving independently from one another. The centre regions where twisting in a circular motion like a garden sprinkler while other sections moved horizontal or vertical as they all interacted like a living breathing system. Not a single star was visible through this. I knew I was looking at the display of a life time. I thought about any late night drivers navigating across the quiet roads through N. Ireland this night, they would have seen this without a doubt and wondered what was going on in the sky''
 |
This is a crop from the above image, check out the contorted knots with whirls and billows and strange oval pits forming, I don't know what the other structures are, they simply fall into the 'O' Unknown category in the NLC classification system, I recalled thinking this night that we needed an updated system with a more expanded list of structures. With the naked eye the lower whirls were glowing vivid gold, just above this was a strange atmospheric green-yellow tinge, this was topped with brilliant white which was illuminating the field so brightly it was almost like standing in front of a gibbous moon, and finishing off this spectacle was a combination of blue-purple with acutely angled bands crossing the whirls and veil casting shadows here and there, I just couldn't find words to articulate what I was seeing.
I suspected every NLC observer was likely watching this display rite now and I would get to hear all about it the next day on the forms, I couldn't wait to find out what others thought of it, was I the only one thinking this was remarkable?, was I caught up in the moment?, what would life long NLC observers think of it and furthermore what would John McConnell think of it?, my mobile phone was very quiet with no messages, perhaps John had drove out the road and was in his element just like I was rite now.
 |
01.29 BST. Zoomed into 39mm, F/4.5, ISO200 for 6.5 seconds,''there's serious gravity wave motion taking place through the Mesopshere here to create those forms. Mother Nature is absolutely incredible, the detail in this display was beyond description''
 |
Crop into that mesmerizing sector. I recently found all these original images on one of my old CD-RW disks and eventually got them downloaded onto my pc where I got a chance to re-edit them for the first time since 2009, all I really needed to do was add a little noise reduction and a subtle unsharp mask, there was really very little done to these images, they are close to what the camera detected that night. Going through the images brought back amazing memories, in my mind I was instantly transported back into that field in Maghera watching the NLCs, I could re-live all that unforgettable flurry of emotions as I savored every second of this apparition, I was buzzing all over again, this was a great time in my life.
 |
01.29 BST. Camera panned slightly N to NW, gold, bronze, blue and silver, this is why I love viewing oblige angle NLCs during the darkest part of the night when they are low in the sky, while the majority are sleeping is the time when nature will show you the most beautiful and photogenic night shining clouds if you are prepared to stick it out this late. The glow from these clouds was unearthly, they almost seemed illuminated from the inside with their luminosity accentuated by low level dark normal clouds crossing the horizon against a dark foreground of trees.
Looking back on this now I wish I had two cameras set up shooting time lapse with DSLRs angled at various sectors shooting semi wide angle, 50mm, and perhaps 70-100mm close up scenes, the end time lapse would have been remarkable. However back then I had never even heard of anyone shooting time lapse of NLCs, it wasn't a common thing at all and my camera wasn't capable of it anyway and I didn't have software or computing power to render the footage, however in other ways this was more enjoyable, the primary goal was getting images, this simplicity allowed me to enjoy the sky more intimately.
 |
Another deep crop nearing the limit of resolution, this was a 6.3 mega pixel camera, in comparison my full frame DSLR has 43 million pixels resolution. Take your time and study the structure from centre to right, the more you look the more you will see, its like a sandy river bed observed through flowing water, but these are particles of comet and asteroid dust encased in ice crystals 82km high within the Mesophere on the edge of space, even though the sun is below the horizon and its the darkest part of the night the NLCs are so high they are still being illuminated by sun, it was a mild night in this field however the NLCs are experiencing temperatures perhaps as low as -100 degrees C.
 |
This display was moving in real time, structures seemed to be performing a celestial ballet moving across the sky within seconds, forms isolated, or in tandem, or overlapping each other, it felt like I was being privy to some secret of the universe. NLC motion can be deceptive, remember these are high up, these clouds are being shaped by upper atmospheric winds and gravity waves, from the ground this looks gradual, but in truth NLCs are moving at about 400mph. Check out the oval structure to the upper right and surrounding forms, do you recall the scene from the movie 'Aliens' when Nute was being rescued from the cocoon near the finale, as she was being lifted there was elastic looking strings of honeycomb type hair stretching from her to the pod, for some reason that's what this image reminds me of.
 |
01.30 BST. If you have never seen a type 5 brightness NLC display before, I mean a proper type 5, especially during the darkest part of a short Summer's night then be prepared to be shocked. By this vary definition NLCs will illuminate buildings and trees facing them, shadows are cast on the ground, including my own, dark adaption is affected and its even possible to read by NLC light, John McConnell informed me this had been done before as a test of brightness. At this stage I had given up on consulting the official NLC classification system and my imagination was running wild, I was seeing skeletal forms such as spines and ectoplasm.
 |
01.31 BST. I would say that with the exception of net-like forms every type of NLC structure was visible within this display and all at the same time.
 |
01.31 BST. The display began to evolve into a matrix of IIa and IIb bands complimented by knots and small, medium and large scale Type IV whirls. The NLCs were so bright that Capella remained the only obvious star in the sky in that region and even it had to be searched for to find it.
 |
Crop with Capella showing IIb bands with undulations and small scale whirls.
 |
01.39 BST. The NLCs were moving so fast they were blurring during my short exposures. A pity about those posts and phone lines in the frame however there was little I could do about it at the time, not on foot anyway, I didn't know if the display was going to fade or if the sky was going to cloud over again so I stayed where I was.
 |
01.41 BST. The ectoplasm and skeletal forms were still ongoing but moving at an ever increasing speed creating motion blur, I assure you I was not bumping into the tripod.
 |
01.42 BST. I had dropped my exposure to 4 seconds F/3.8 ISO200 at a focal length of 25mm. Dark sections of normal weather cloud where moving in across the horizon adding great contrast to the NLCs. People new to the subject always say to me that they are having trouble telling the difference between normal weather clouds and real NLCs, my answer is always the same, ''trust me you will know them when you see them''
 |
02.45 BST. It was now pre-dawn and the sky was getting bright again, I had walked further along the Crewe Road for a few final images before the clouds would soon be washed out by the approaching dawn, NLCs cannot be seen in the daytime sky, the sun needs to be between 6 and 16 degrees below the horizon for their forms to be visible to the eye and tonight's window was closing fast.
 |
02.54 BST. Camera facing NE far away from the main display however faint wisps of NLC could still be seen and with the waning crescent moon with earthshine rising it was the perfect way to bring this night to an end. I packed up and swiftly walked along the country road and back home, I was dehydrated and tired however I was on such a high I never thought much about drinking water.
Back home I took a massive drink of water followed by another cop of tea for traditions sake then downloaded my images onto the computer. It was now almost 04.00 in the morning, the sky was bright outside the window and the birds were singing and I was roasting, there wouldn't be much sleep tonight. I chose four or five random images from the collection and sent them along with a visual report to my NLC contacts were all observations would be collected for future research (Ken Kennedy), then as an after thought I decided to send a few images into spaceweather.com, I thought it was probably a waste of time but since I had such an amazing experience I went ahead with it anyway then tried to get some sleep, all I could think about were those incredible NLCs. The next morning I logged onto my pc and checked spaceweather.com, I was shocked and delighted to see that my image long with my description had made the homepage which Dr. Tony Philips at titled 'Noctilucent Madness' which I thought was a very fitting header.
''I can't find words to describe this display or do it justice so I hope the images will speak for themselves. This brings to an end the most stunning NLC display I've ever seen, it will never be forgotten, however much to my surprise there were very few images from the UK and Ireland showing the display at this time, some had imaged the earlier part but not the 01.00-02.00 magic moment for which many had been clouded out for, in fact, I saw no images at all from N. Ireland of this part of the display, I was shocked, so was I the only person who got to see it at its absolute best? I really was very lucky with the weather because areas around the coast and further S had thicker cloud with the best of the clear sky over central areas of NI where I lived. Some observers did get a taster of it like Andrew Phethean, from Aberdeen, UK who wrote on spaceweather.com...
''Hope there's still space for some more NLCs! As Martin Mckenna says - it was a display of a lifetime. Shadows indeed! It was actually the first time I'd ever seen these but it was better than any photos I've seen up till now. Incredibly bright, and stunningly detailed''
As I write this during June 2024 close to solar maximum I'm still battling clouds and watching for NLCs and despite having seen many beautiful displays since I've never personally had a night which came close to this amazing memory 15 years earlier. I have seen bigger displays and even brighter but this display hands down beats anything I've seen when it comes to structure, colours and luminosity, June 18th/19th remains the NLC night of a life time for me, however the sky is always full of surprises, who knows what might appear on any night and surely the next solar minimum will have great contenders in the sky waiting to be seen, so until then thanks very much for reading and going back in an imaginery time machine with me to re-live this special night.
Martin McKenna
