Mystery weather phenomenon 

spotted all over Europe 

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Eerie blue light formations were seen across the night sky in

 Northern Europe early on Monday morning

Skies light up an eerie shade of blue in 

the middle of the night

WEATHER watchers were left baffled by spectacular 

lights in the skies over Northern Europe and parts of the

 UK in the middle of the night on Monday.

Breathtaking photos taken at around 2am show how eerie

 blue formations appeared in the heavens.

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Bizarre patterns were seen illuminating the night sky from

 the UK to Scandinavia and Germany

They were so bright that it appeared as though the sun was rising

hours early.

The phenomenon was spotted in cities across the north of the

 continent including in the North East of Britain.

Dr Michael Theusner, meteorologist at the Climate House in the 

German harbour city of Bremerhaven, was one of the many who

 spotted the stunning weather display.

He explained: “The clouds are so high up in the atmosphere that

 they are illuminated by the sun, while darkness prevails on the surface.”

“They form in the extremely thin air at temperatures below

minus 120 degrees [Celsius], in which the few bits of water

 vapour freeze to ice crystals.”

The official term of the phenomenon is noctilucent clouds, 

which translates from Latin to mean “night clouds”.

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Dazzling streaks of light were seen in the North East of the UK and parts of the continent

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The blue/green lights were put down to clouds forming 50 miles up in the air and reflecting the sun’s rays

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To some it appeared like the sun was rising hours early

They form around 50 miles up and display a dazzling bright blue/green hue.

Normally clouds form up to just eight miles high.

In addition, the sun must be between exactly six and 16 degrees below the horizon for the light to bounce off the clouds.

In Northern Europe this is only possible from the beginning of June to the middle of July.

Dr Theusner said: “The best way to experience it is during clear nights when no normal clouds obscure the view, from about an hour after sunset until an hour before sunrise.

“They are now more frequent than 10 to 20 years ago, and are also more often seen in southern regions as well as with us.”

It was also witnessed in the UK in mid June. Twitter user Peter Fletcher wrote in just after midnight on June 16: “Interesting clouds in a clear sky north of Newcastle. Not a good moth night”.