Astronomy Picture of the Day

Explanation: Vivid and lustrous, wafting iridescent waves of colour wash across this skyscape from northern Sweden. Known as nacreous clouds or mother-of-pearl clouds, they are rare. But their unforgettable appearance was captured in this snapshot on January 12 with the Sun just below the local horizon. A type of polar stratospheric cloud, they form when unusually cold temperatures in the usually cloudless lower stratosphere form ice crystals. Still sunlit at altitudes of around 15 to 25 kilometres, the clouds diffract the sunlight even when the Sun itself is hidden from direct view.