This is the Sun. It looks a little like a monochrome Jupiter, shrouded in clouds and a (for Northern Norway) weird kind of dusty veil, halfway cloud, halfway glass.
Those are minuscule drops of water nucleating out on something which isn’t usually there: Sahara dust.
Yes, you read that right. Sandstorms in the Sahara may produce particles which rush over the Canary islands towards the Carribbean on the other side of the Atlantic, just to be swept along the Northern American East Coast into an air current which carries them over the North Sea towards us…
At least, that’s what I thought. I was wrong. As far as I understand it now, this is basically the Sirocco-wind going wild and continuing northward.
Still, there these dust particles are. Here, we can see them, either with the lasers up on the mountain or our own eyes.
So, what does it take to geek out about clouds? Knowledge of how they come about. That’s what. 🙂
Space for Science 