July 12/13th 00.09 BST. This is at an elevated location where I watch thunderstorms from. I went up here to watch for the Space Shuttle transit and only had a rough idea of its transit time so I decided to monitor the sky to the SW and S in readiness for its appearance because I wanted to get images. I couldn't take my eyes of that region of sky for long incase I missed it. This is something which I have since regretted because the NLCs turned stunning beyond belief and I didn't take any images during that prime moment. The above was taken later looking N after midnight when the display was much lower, although the oblique viewing angle was perfect for a nice show. This was type 4 brightness at the time with vivid blue, yellow, green, silver/white and gold colours all visible at the same time. Capella is the bright star. The NLCs extend far out of frame to the L and R. Nice dark form to that towering cumulus cloud to the L. The Space Shuttle didn't launch due to more storms so I should have spent more time with this display. I did see Endeavour on the nights after this complete with orange external fuel tank as it raced across the sky.
