As part of a test of a new system for studying auroras and Earths ionosphere, NASA plans to release artificial blue-green and red clouds off the East Coast in the early morning hours of Sunday, June 11.

The clouds will be produced by canisters of vapor tracers released into Earths upper atmosphere by a small suborbital rocket launched from Wallops Flight Facility on the coast of Virginia.

Composed of lithium, barium, and tri-methyl aluminum, which make other elements glow by reacting with them, the tracers will give scientists the chance to observe the flows of both neutral and ionized particles. They do not pose any hazard to humans.

Tracking the glow will enable scientists to follow the movement of particles in the ionosphere, which will provide data about the movements of upper atmosphere air currents.

The vapor tracers will be released between 96 and 124 miles (154 and 200 km) above Earths surface. Interactions between barium, strontium, and cupric-oxide will produce the clouds once the vapor tracers are released.

Initially scheduled for May 31, the release of the clouds has been postponed multiple times due to both weather conditions and the presence of boats in the location where the payload will fall back to Earth.

According to NASA, the colorful clouds could be visible between New York and North Carolina and in a westerly direction to Charlottesville, Virginia.

Viewers will be able to see the clouds around 4:30 AM. Those north of the launch site will see them low in the southeastern sky while those south of the launch should look low in the northeastern sky.

The clouds will appear directly to the east of viewers in Charlottesville and Richmond, Virginia.

NASA plans to broadcast the event on its Ustream feed.

Laurel Kornfeld is a freelance writer and amateur astronomer from Highland Park, NJ, who enjoys writing about astronomy and planetary science. She studied journalism at Douglass College, Rutgers University, and earned a Graduate Certificate of Science in astronomy from Swinburne Universitys Astronomy Online program.

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NASA will release artificial clouds on East Coast this Sunday - The Space Reporter