FAIRBANKS, Alaska – This week, NASA aims to launch a rocket into the Alaskan night sky to better understand the polar auroras, commonly known as the aurora borealis.
Like snowflakes and fingerprints, each aurora is unique. They appear as ribbons of light across the color spectrum. Each event is a one-time light show that lights up the night sky.
Scientists generally understand what causes polar aurorae (charged particles emitted by the sun, known as solar flares, interact with Earth's magnetic field), but the cause of their unique movements is often unclear. I don't understand.
Specifically, NASA researchers want to understand why some auroras flicker, others pulsate, and others appear to have holes.
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center is flying two creatively named missions from its Poker Flat research range in Fairbanks.
The first mission, dubbed Ground Imaging Aurora Fast Features Rocket Survey (GIRAFF), aims to fire a rocket at what NASA has determined to be two distinct subtypes of the aurora. One blinks several times per second, and the other is for the aurora flicker, which blinks up to 15 times per second. ”
Each rocket is equipped with instruments that measure the collisions of electrons coming from solar flares with electrons in Earth's magnetosphere.
The second mission will fire rockets into dark spots or “holes” in the aurora borealis to determine when auroras occur.
The mission is named “Black and Diffuse Aurora Science Surveyor.” “The acronym is left as an exercise for the reader,” according to a NASA news release.
NASA says wind conditions in Alaska play an important role in determining when to launch.
“Both teams will track the aurora with ground-based cameras at the launch site and descent range observatory in Veneti, Alaska, approximately 130 miles northeast along the rocket's trajectory,” according to the release.
According to NASA, Aristotle gave the first scientific explanation of the aurora in the 4th century. Some scientists and historians believe that it was the astronomer Galileo who coined the term aurora.
