NASA photographs 'electric blue clouds' 50 miles above Earth's surface

A NASA high-altitude balloon has taken millions of images of rarely photographed “electric blue clouds” about 50 miles above the surface of the Earth.

The clouds, called polar mesospheric clouds, are made of ice crystals. NASA scientists created animations from the images to study waves that form in the high atmosphere in order to “better understand turbulence in the atmosphere, as well as in oceans, lakes, and other planetary atmospheres,” saying it may allow for better weather forecasting in the future.