The sounding rockets released vapor tracers and pressure sensors at different altitudes across central and northern Alaska ...

Sounding rockets launched from the Poker Flat Research Range north of Fairbanks, Alaska, lit up the night sky for miles ...

It’s part of an experiment called “AWESOME,” which seeks to observe how auroras affect Earth’s upper atmosphere.

Any aurora chasers in Alaska likely did a double take this week when they witnessed some human-made additions to the dazzling Northern Lights overhead when teams launched two NASA-sounding rockets ...

It’s all part of a NASA experiment called Auroral Waves Excited by Substorm Onset Magnetic Events, or “AWESOME,” which seeks to observe how auroras affect Earth’s upper atmosphere.