Sounding Rocket Trail (IMAGE)
Caption
Scientists are gearing up to launch a sounding rocket from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Va. for a five-minute trip to study a global, electrical current called the dynamo sweeping through the ionosphere. The sounding rocket is also called Dynamo. The window for launch is June 24 to July 8, 2013 (excepting June 26-27). A chemical trail like the one here -- this one deployed from a sounding rocket at night as opposed to in the daytime -- will help researchers track wind movement to determine how it affects the movement of charged particles in the atmosphere. All the colors in the sky shown here, the white and blue streaks, and the larger red blob overhead, are from the chemical trails.
Credit
NASA
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