Our goal was to capture Noctilucent Clouds —elusive, high-altitude formations made of ice crystals, visible only during astronomical twilight. Floating 76 to 85 kilometers (47 to 53 mi) above Earth’s surface, they glow against the night sky when the Sun has slipped just below the horizon. These clouds are rarely seen and appear mostly during local summers, under precise atmospheric conditions.
Noctilucent Clouds remain one of the lesser-understood phenomena of our atmosphere. In the Netherlands, sightings are rare, recorded only in 1988, 1997, 2005, and 2014 —the year these photographs were taken. Scientists are observing more frequent reports worldwide, possibly tied to the planet’s changing climate.
This project was shot on assignment for the Leeuwarder Courant, named European Newspaper of the Year in 2014 and International Newspaper of the Year in 2018.
