Alien invasion? No, just a Northern Lights experiment

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The Northern Lights were forecast to be weak over Norway Friday night, but two rockets launched by NASA created a much bigger show for hundreds of miles.

The rockets were launched two minutes apart from the Andoya Space Center in Norway as part of an experiment to study the Auroras. Two tracer chemicals were released from the rockets in the Earth's ionosphere (about 200 miles up), and created colorful, bright clouds, which helped researchers track the flow of particles in the Northern Lights. NASA says the chemicals pose no threat to residents.

The photos of the colorful clouds are spectacular, but you have to check out the video taken by Ole Salomonsen.

Bakersfield, CA

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MondayMon

11/02/2026

Mostly Sunny

69° / 53°

1%

TuesdayTue

11/03/2026

Partly Cloudy

73° / 52°

2%

WednesdayWed

11/04/2026

Partly Cloudy

68° / 50°

7%

ThursdayThu

11/05/2026

Partly Cloudy

69° / 50°

5%

FridayFri

11/06/2026

Sunny

72° / 50°

4%

SaturdaySat

11/07/2026

Sunny

77° / 52°

3%

SundaySun

11/08/2026

Partly Cloudy

78° / 55°

1%

MondayMon

11/09/2026

Partly Cloudy

77° / 54°

1%