APOD: AZURE Vapor Tracers over Norway (2019 Apr 08)

[APOD Robot]

AZURE Vapor Tracers over Norway

Explanation: What's happening in the sky? The atmosphere over northern Norway appeared quite strange for about 30 minutes last Friday when colorful clouds, dots, and plumes suddenly appeared. The colors were actually created by the NASA-funded Auroral Zone Upwelling Rocket Experiment (AZURE) which dispersed gas tracers to probe winds in Earth's upper atmosphere. AZURE's tracers originated from two short-lived sounding rockets launched from the Andøya Space Center in Norway. The harmless gases, trimethylaluminum and a barium/strontium mixture, were released into the ionosphere at altitudes of 115 and 250 km. The vapor trails were observed dispersing from several ground stations. Mapping how AZURE's vapors dispersed should increase humanity's understanding of how the solar wind transfers energy to the Earth and powers aurora.

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[revloren]

So much WOW here! I'd love to know the chemical/elevation/atmospheric characteristics that made for the different features - the wispy orange, the green dots, the blue smudges. I can't see an actual path for the rockets, the displays seem quite dispersed. Then there's the background green aurora/airglow.

This opens up so many possibilities for artistic planetary displays. Why does Norway get to have all the fun?

[Boomer12k]

look up how "safe" those chemicals are...I know, I know...released in the Ionosphere...

:---[===] *

[starsurfer]

For some reason reminds me of this song:

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

[joe25]

Any 'anti-fungal' properties to Barium, Strontium, or Aluminum ?

[HellCat]

I'd like to know more about Yang Sutie. Great shot, great timing!

[orin stepanek]

Can you imagine all the UFO reports!

[zendae1]

It's neat seeing the greeny-blue dots reflected back off the azure-blue blobbies.

[MarkBour]

What's wrong with the trees on these mountains? They're all growing in different directions.

[neufer]

What's wrong with the trees on these mountains? They're all growing in different directions.

• They're suffering from "the vapors".

<<In the Victorian era, a variety of conditions which affected women were referred to as "a case of the vapours". Ladies' tight corsets could squeeze their internal organs, including the lungs, and could restrict breathing causing the wearer to feel faint and suffer "the vapours".

Over 4000 years of history, this disease was considered from two perspectives: scientific and demonological. It was cured with herbs, sex or sexual abstinence, punished and purified with fire for its association with sorcery and finally, clinically studied as a disease and treated with innovative therapies. However, even at the end of 19th century, scientific innovation had still not reached some places, where the only known therapies were those proposed by Galen. The evolution of these diseases seems to be a factor linked with social “westernization”, and examining under what conditions the symptoms first became common in different societies became a priority for recent studies over risk factor.

Today, the phrase "a case of the vapors" is most often used either melodramatically or for comedic effect.>>

[zendae1]

After which, the immortal Galen became an archaeologist and sometimes appeared as Picard...

[dan]

So much WOW here! I'd love to know the chemical/elevation/atmospheric characteristics that made for the different features - the wispy orange, the green dots, the blue smudges. I can't see an actual path for the rockets, the displays seem quite dispersed.

I agree. Does anyone know which chemicals produced which effects observed in this photo?

[dan]

Answered my questions:
- Dark blue areas are from neutral barium emissions (possibly w/ strontium)
- Light blue spots AND white wispy tails are from Tri-methyl aluminum (TMA) vapor trail
More explanation here: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/soun ... etals.html