Like a shoal of translucent fishes swimming across an ocean of sky.
The sky was particularly colourful this morning. I took these pictures from inside a moving car, through the windscreen (I was a passenger) so they are not quite as clear as I’d like them to be. The pictures were taken from around 8.00 to 8.30 am (before and during sunrise). I believe this phenomenon is caused by ice crystals reflecting sunlight, though I’m not sure what is the correct term. If anyone knows, let me know.
Update (3rd Feb) – through the magic of twitter (below), they are examples of nacreous clouds.
The coloured clouds were visible in the east before sunrise -once the sun rose above the horizon, the colours faded away.
@John_Smyth @ResearchatNUIG @MetEireann @UCDEarth @apod I think these are nacreous clouds. Spotted over Leicester earlier this week too
— Henrietta O'Connor (@hso1) February 3, 2016