Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Tue. Night: NASA Rocket Light Show over U.S. East Coast

NASA Rocket to Spark Light Show Over US East Coast Tonight

Date: 29 January 2013 Time: 10:58 AM ET
ATREX Trimethyl Aluminum Clouds
Two of the clouds left in the wake of the ATREX experiment shine on March 27, 2012. The rockets released trimethyl aluminum, a substance that burns spontaneously in the presence of oxygen.
CREDIT: NASA/Wallops Flight Facility
NASA will launch a rocket tonight (Jan. 29) on a mission that promises to put on a spectacular, albeit brief, light show over the U.S. East Coast that may be visible to stargazers along the Atlantic Seaboard, weather permitting.

Unsuspecting observers of the artificial night sky display may be puzzled and amazed, so before you make that phone call to your local media outlet or police station, here is why this is happening and when you might see it.

The bright phenomenon will be caused by an experiment aboard a NASA sounding rocket. As part the mission, the rocket will release a chemical tracer that should create two bright, red-colored lithium vapor trails in space that may be seen by observers across the mid-Atlantic region, and possibly from even further away.

More - Link >>> http://www.space.com/19521-nasa-rocket-night-sky-lights-launch.html

Source: Space.com .

gaw

Glenn A. Walsh, Project Director,
Friends of the Zeiss < http://friendsofthezeiss.org >
Electronic Mail - < gawalsh@planetarium.cc >
About the Author: < http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/#GAW >
SPACE & SCIENCE NEWS, ASTRONOMICAL CALENDAR:
< http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/#news >
Twitter: < http://twitter.com/spacewatchtower >
Facebook: < http://www.facebook.com/pages/SpaceWatchtower/238017839577841?sk=wall >
Blog: < http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/ >
Author of History Web Sites on the Internet --
* Buhl Planetarium, Pittsburgh:
  < http://www.planetarium.cc >
* Adler Planetarium, Chicago:
  < http://adlerplanetarium.tripod.com >
* Astronomer, Educator, Optician John A. Brashear:
  < http://johnbrashear.tripod.com >
* Andrew Carnegie & Carnegie Libraries:
  < http://www.andrewcarnegie.cc >
* Civil War Museum of Andrew Carnegie Free Library:
  < http://garespypost.tripod.com >
* Duquesne Incline cable-car railway, Pittsburgh:
  < http://inclinedplane.tripod.com >
* Public Transit:
  < http://andrewcarnegie2.tripod.com/transit >

No comments:

Post a Comment