Video: Aurora and noctilucent clouds appear at the same time

The rare phenomenon of aurora and noctilucent clouds at the same time appeared in Scotland, making the sky shimmering.

The sun is nearing its peak in its 11-year operation cycle. This created two scenes that occurred at the same time in the sky north of Scotland that had never been recorded before.

Aurora occurs when charged particles from the sun interact with the earth's atmosphere, creating colorful vivid light in space. The luminous cloud (polar middle clouds) is the highest type of cloud on earth. It formed by ice crystals at an altitude of 80km reflecting sunlight at the time of sunset, creating a magical blue light in the dark.

The image above was recorded by photographer Maciej Winiarczyk. Both phenomena appear only in high latitudes, around the Arctic region and the Arctic sub-region. Winiarczyk luckily saw both happening at the same time and recording.