Spotted in Scotland: Magical mother-of-pearl clouds

People across northern Scotland were treated to a rare sighting of iridescent clouds this week.

Following a recent sighting in Scandinavia, these mesmerising clouds were also just captured across parts of Scotland, including Dundee, Aberdeenshire and Moray.

These magical, luminous clouds are known under a few different names, including 'mother-of-pearl', polar stratospheric clouds, or nacreous.

They occur during the polar winter generally at high northerly latitudes, when temperatures are very low, lower than -78C, so are rarely spotted in the UK and Ireland.

Most clouds form at altitudes of 10,000 to 15,000 metres high in the troposphere, but these particular clouds develop much higher up, in the stratosphere at 15,000 to 25,000 metres.

Did you happen to spot them earlier this week too? Send your shots in to our uploader for us to feature!