Notes on historical aspects on the earliest known observations of noctilucent clouds

摘要

The present paper considers historical aspects of the earliest knownobservations of noctilucent clouds (NLCs). The 1884 and 1885 are discussedby considering important historical citations by the pioneers of theearliest known observations of noctilucent clouds. For the first time in NLCstudies, we consider seven major volcanic eruptions: Laki in 1783, Mount St. Helensin 1800, Tambora in 1815, Galunggung in 1822, Cosigüina in 1835,Shiveluch in 1854 and Askja in 1875. These all preceded the catastrophic1883 eruption of Krakatoa, which despite having a lesser magnitude thanTambora in 1815, had pronounced effects on the atmosphere. These eruptionsrepresent possible triggers for the appearance of NLCs. For the first time,we publish an unknown, in English-speaking literature, historical fact onthe first determinations of the altitude of noctilucent clouds made by twoRussian astronomers V. K. Tseraskii and A. A. Belopolskii on 26 June 1885, whomanaged to infer the altitude of the clouds in the range of 73–83 km, thatis, for the first time, demonstrating the possible existence of the cloudsat great altitudes in the Earth's atmosphere. Moreover, V. K. Tseraskii wasthe first observer to photograph noctilucent clouds in 1885 or 1886, whichis 1–2 yr before the German astronomer O. Jesse, who owns the firstpublished images of noctilucent clouds. The photographs made by V. K. Tseraskii,unfortunately, did not reach us.