Unusual cloud glow around Surrey / Hampshire?

[whitekiteuk]

Dear All

An unusual first post perhaps, but has anyone noticed anything strange in the overcast skies these last two nights in the Hampshire / Surrey area?

It's been overcast and there have been some pretty strange skyglow effects, especially near the horizon. Any one of the attached images could be explained away as light pollution but I've lived in this area for a while, and these are not normally where and how I would see light pollution.

The attached images were taken from the Hog's Back this evening around 8pm, looking back over Aldershot (559b), Farnham (560b) towards London (561b) and from my street (563b). There are no stars - any spots you see are duff pixels in the camera. The moon was still well below the horizon, and the views are northwest, southwest, and east in direction.

The only post-processing on the images was to crop them down to a size for posting here. There are all 5sec exposures at F3.8, 100 ASA on an Oympus e520 DSLR - and reasonable indications of what I was seeing by eye.

I was unable to capture some of the most stunning views but I also saw very strong, almost white, patches near the horizon and a number of times, the faint haze was definitely bluey-green in hue and rose higher into the sky. I saw similar things for two or three days in late Feb 2012 too - definitely odd.

I've scoured the internet for discussions / explanations of similar but I can't find anything so I'm hoping someone here can help explain. I'm intrigued to know two things:

1) Has anyone else noticed it, or is it just me?

2) Assuming I'm not hallucinating, what's causing it - it just doesn't feel man-made... :-)

Thanks in advance,

Adrian

[bingevader]

The likelihood of riots in Hampshire/Surrey and you lot torching the place are fairly slim.

Therefore, my best guess is just our old friend light pollution.

When the clouds are particularly low, especially where there are very bright lights, the light just gets reflected back.

Particularly noticeable over sports stadia.

Cheers

[Beulah]

Particularly noticeable over sports stadia.

Cheers

Absolutely - and areas where lights are angled directly up. (Like tourist attractions with badly angled spotlights )

This light dome is apparent from my garden and a town 20 miles away is the culprit.

[RichieP]

I think Heathrow might be a culprit.

Rich

[EBXL5]

Drove down M4 an hour or so ago and it appeared to be right over Reading football stadium so I'd agree with Beulah that it's poorly located floodlighting and low cloud making a right mess.

looks really odd though.

[long_arms]

Hello,

I was amazed to see this as last night I took the dog out along a cycle track which runs alongside fields. It was around 22:30, and as I looked across the fields, in the sky was something very similar to this!

In that direction there is always a little light pollution (the orange stuff) but not much whatsoever. Last night there was a very clear white patch in one of the clouds close to the horizon! At first I thought the headlights from an aircraft however it did not move in the 20 minutes I was out there.

I'm not a conspiracy/ufo nutter but it was very strange indeed as I can think of nothing in that area that could cause this. There is certainly no stadium etc over there, simply a small village.

Would love to know if it was some sort of natural phenomenon. This was almost exactly to the West.

Dan

[nytecam]

Yes I've seen this LP effect on low cloud base - the glow of London [City?] from home can be white not yellow/orange

[Gonzo]

I think Heathrow might be a culprit.

Rich

that's not Heathrow.

I too have noticed some unusual light pollution, didn't really pay much attention to be honest. There is so much cloud coverage at the moment that I have dismantled my rig now.

[emadmoussa]

We've been experiencing low clouds in the past few days. They're usually ionized and have a higher reflective ability. Mostly the red light comes from street lights and nearby airstrips and military bases.

[Extreme Fencer]

Hi i lived in the area upto 2000 around xmas time Farnham Castle is Flood lit as well as alot of other buildings in the area most of which are lit from the ground up thus spiling unwanted light, also Is the banger racing still on in the Ash area, was Aldershot playing at home

[whitekiteuk]

I was amazed to see this as last night I took the dog out along a cycle track which runs alongside fields. It was around 22:30, and as I looked across the fields, in the sky was something very similar to this!

In that direction there is always a little light pollution (the orange stuff) but not much whatsoever. Last night there was a very clear white patch in one of the clouds close to the horizon! At first I thought the headlights from an aircraft however it did not move in the 20 minutes I was out there.

We've been experiencing low clouds in the past few days. They're usually ionized and have a higher reflective ability. Mostly the red light comes from street lights and nearby airstrips and military bases.

Thanks All for the replies. It's good to know I'm not the only one seeing things but a bit disappointing that it's nothing more exciting...

It certainly is not usual to see LP like this in this area - I've only seen it for a couple of days last year, and just now as well. It's the odd colours and directions it was coming from that threw me - especially the green tinted ones I'd never seen before. Maybe there's a new Waitrose or Co-Op in Farnborough that I didn't know about that's throwing up a green glow too...

Well, even if it's only 'low clouds that are ionized with higher reflective ability', it sounds impressive and is rare enough to convince my non-star-gazing friends that it's still pretty cool.

Thanks again,

Adrian