Planets view over Denmead

An email from one of our local residents: Thank you Graham Bryant for sharing this with us.

Graham: I was outside on 6th June 2020 at 3.30am (and easily socially distanced myself !!) on the fields between Roman Green and the Nature Reserve having planned to image a conjunction (close approach) of Saturn and Jupiter when I noticed a bright and rare display of Noctilucent clouds.

These are not ordinary clouds but ice crystals that form around micro meteor dust as well as fine volcanic dust very high (about 76-85 km ) in the atmosphere.

They can only be seen clearly from the UK during the few weeks on either side of the summer solstice when the angle of the sun is good at illuminating them during the short summer night hours.