These photos were taken at 12.30am, one and a half hours after sunset and show noctilucent clouds. These "night shining clouds" are the Earth's highest clouds at about 80km high and are made from extremely small ice crystals. Such clouds can only be seen at higher latitudes on summer nights, because they are illuminated by the sun which is not far below the horizon. Lower level clouds and the ground remain in darkness, while the sky glows with these eery light blue formations.
For more information on this phenomenon you can follow the link to Atmospheric Optics. http://www.atoptics.co.uk/highsky/nlc1.htm
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