Pink cloud from NASA rocket lights up sky over U.S. Southwest

An unusual pink cloud that lit up the sky over New Mexico and Arizona early on Wednesday was caused by a NASA research rocket launched to study the outer reaches of Earth's atmosphere, scientists said.

The cloud stunned many residents who posted photographs online and speculated on social media about its cause, with theories ranging from shootings stars to the sprightly fictional character Peter Pan.

But researchers at the White Sands Missile Range in southern New Mexico said the fluffy phenomenon had a much more Earth-bound explanation.

They said it was caused by a Terrier-Black Brant rocket designed to reach an altitude of more than 100 miles (160 km) that released a small quantity of vapor - "about as much as is contained in a BBQ grill propane tank" - into the near-vacuum of space to study the formation of the ionosphere.

The ionosphere is the outer layer of the atmosphere that extends to about 370 miles (600 km) into space.

The White Sands scientists said in a statement the colorful cloud was formed "as the sun illuminates the vapor before it diffuses harmlessly away into space."

Ground stations across the U.S. Southwest took a variety of measurements during the experiment, the researchers said. The data will be used to develop enhanced models of ionospheric disturbances in near-Earth space and their effects on modern technologies.

Quelle: NASA

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One day after a Chinese rocket disintegrated brightly over the western USA, another set of strange lights appeared over the same region. This time it was NASA's doing. Before sunrise on Feb. 25th, a Terrier-Black Brant research rocket lifted off from White Sands Missile Range in southern New Mexico, carrying an experiment to Earth's ionosphere. Vapors released by the rocket created a luminous red blob in the dawn sky, shown here over Mesa, Arizona:

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"I got up to put the garbage outside just before sunrise and swore I saw something glowing in the sky," reports photographer Jasper Nance. "I thought I was crazy so I ran inside to grab my camera. Once my eyes were dark adjusted there was no missing the huge red splotch just above where the sun might rise. I watched it for about half an hour until the sunrise was too bright to see it any longer"

Early-rising sky watchers as far away as Utah saw the cloud. Some likened it to the aurora borealis. Most were surprised by the apparition. Nance, however, correctly guessed that it came from White Sands.

The ionosphere is a layer of Earth's upper atmosphere where solar UV radiation knocks electrons off atoms and molecules. Plasma in the ionosphere is crucial to over-the-horizon radio communications, and also affects the quality of GPS navigation and other modern technologies. According to a White Sands press release, ground stations monitored the cloud to gather data on "natural wave-like structures referred to as traveling ionospheric disturbances."

Quelle: Spaceweather

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