NASA-funded Sounding Rocket Launches Straight Through an Aurora Over Alaska
On the early morning of March 3, 2014, a NASA-funded sounding rocket launched straight into an aurora over Venetie, Alaska. The Ground-to-Rocket Electrodynamics - Electron Correlative Experiment, or "GREECE" sounding rocket mission, which launched from the Poker Flat Research Range in Alaska, was used to study classic curls of the aurora in the night sky. The mission seeks to understand what events that set up these auroral curls in the charged, heated gas - or plasma - where aurorae form. This piece of information will help paint a picture of the Sun-Earth connection and how energy and particles from the Sun interact with Earth's magnetic system, the Magnetosphere.
Comments:
<br><br>Here's the link to a NASA video entitled "Walking on Air" that shows an aurora from space.<br><br><br>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SdfKWxi0D4&feature=youtube_gdata<br><br><br><br>
<br><br>Thanks to Emmanuel Masongsong for pointing out this very interesting news item to me.<br><br>Thanks,<br><br>Guy Pirro