Strange lights appear in Alaska's night sky during 'AWESOME' aurora experiment
Two NASA sounding rockets launched into an auroral substorm above Alaska on Tuesday. The colorful tracers released by the rockers were visible across central and northern Alaska.
Watch: Vivid aurora dances in sky above Alaska home
FILE VIDEO: A video recorded in North Pole, Alaska, shows a vivid display of the northern lights as it dances above a home on Nov. 23, 2024.
FAIRBANKS, Alaska – 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 straight into the glowing sky above.
The University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute is in the midst of a busy launch campaign at the Poker Flats Research Range north of Fairbanks. The campaign includes three NASA sounding rockets aimed at improving space weather research and prediction as part of an experiment called Auroral Waves Excited by Substorm Onset Magnetic Events, or AWESOME.
The second sounding rocket launch on March 25, 2025 from the Poker Flats Research Range in Alaska.
(Bryan Whitten/UAF)
Two of those rockets were launched Tuesday. The plan was to launch all three within a three-hour window, but NASA said one of the rockets malfunctioned and needed repair.
The rockets deployed tracer payloads that were then tracked on the ground by about a dozen UAF researchers and students at ground stations across the interior and northern Alaska.
Here is what they saw:
![The AWESOME launch seen from the Eagle Ground Station in Alaska on March 25, 2025.]()
Image 1 of 8The AWESOME launch seen from the Eagle Ground Station in Alaska on March 25, 2025. ( )
![The tracers seen in the Northern Lights from the Utqiavik Ground Station in Alaska.]()
Image 2 of 8The tracers seen in the Northern Lights from the Utqiavik Ground Station in Alaska. (UAF)
![The AWESOME launch seen from the Eagle Ground Station in Alaska on March 25, 2025.]()
Image 3 of 8The AWESOME launch seen from the Eagle Ground Station in Alaska on March 25, 2025. ( )
![The second sounding rocket launch on March 25, 2025 from the Poker Flats Research Range in Alaska.]()
Image 4 of 8The second sounding rocket launch on March 25, 2025 from the Poker Flats Research Range in Alaska. (Bryan Whitten/UAF)
![The AWESOME launch seen from the Toolik Ground Station in Alaska on March 25, 2025.]()
Image 5 of 8The AWESOME launch tracers seen from the Toolik Ground Station in Alaska on March 25, 2025. (UAF)
![The AWESOME launch seen from the Toolik Ground Station in Alaska on March 25, 2025.]()
Image 6 of 8The AWESOME launch seen from the Toolik Ground Station in Alaska on March 25, 2025. (UAF)
![The AWESOME launch seen from the Toolik Ground Station in Alaska on March 25, 2025.]()
Image 7 of 8The AWESOME launch seen from the Toolik Ground Station in Alaska on March 25, 2025. ( )
![Tracers seen overhead from the Poker Flats Research Station in Alaska on March 25, 2025.]()
Image 8 of 8Tracers seen overhead from the Poker Flats Research Station in Alaska on March 25, 2025. (Bryan Whitten/UAF)
The pink, blue and white tracers released by the second rocket were deployed during an aurora substorm. According to UAF, this is a period of "intense brightening caused by the sudden release of energy stored in the elongated tail of Earth’s magnetosphere."
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UAF said the tracers were widely visible across central and northern Alaska.
"Because we had the two-stage rockets deploying over central Alaska and the four-stage rocket deploying off the north coast of Alaska, we essentially were conducting two independent tracer experiments at the same time," UAF space physics professor Mark Conde said in an update. "And because the camera locations we needed were completely different for each of those rockets, we needed many camera sites to be clear at the same time."
Tracers seen overhead from the Poker Flats Research Station in Alaska on March 25, 2025.
(Bryan Whitten/UAF)
UAF researchers said what they learn from the AWESOME study could help improve space weather forecasting.
Tuesday's double launch happened during a Geomagnetic Storm Watch issued by NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center because of a solar feature known as a coronal hole high-speed stream sending charged particles toward Earth, and creating powerful Northern Lights seen farther south than normal.
The third NASA sounding rocket for the AWESOME experiment could launch sometime before the range's launch window closes on April 6.