Aurora Imagery from Poker Flats

  • Released Thursday, February 23, 2017
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The northern lights were seen over Alaska the night of Feb. 16, 2017 at the the Poker Flat Research Range north of Fairbanks. Credit: NASA/Terry Zaperach

The northern lights were seen over Alaska the night of Feb. 16, 2017 at the the Poker Flat Research Range north of Fairbanks. Credit: NASA/Terry Zaperach

The northern lights were dancing across the sky over Alaska the night of Feb. 16 as seen from the Poker Flat Research Range north of Fairbanks. While skies were clear at Poker and the auroras were active, cloudy skies over downrange viewing sites prevented the launch of NASA sounding rockets carrying instruments to explore the Earth's magnetic environment and its impact on Earth’s upper atmosphere and ionosphere. Special ground-based instruments are located at the downrange sites for observing the aurora into which the rockets fly. The launch window for the four sounding rockets runs through March 3. Credit: NASA/Terry Zaperach

The northern lights were seen over Alaska the night of Feb. 16, 2017 at the the Poker Flat Research Range north of Fairbanks. Credit: NASA/Terry Zaperach

The northern lights were seen over Alaska the night of Feb. 16, 2017 at the the Poker Flat Research Range north of Fairbanks. Credit: NASA/Terry Zaperach

The northern lights were seen over Alaska the night of Feb. 16, 2017 at the the Poker Flat Research Range north of Fairbanks. Credit: NASA/Terry Zaperach

The northern lights were seen over Alaska the night of Feb. 16, 2017 at the the Poker Flat Research Range north of Fairbanks. Credit: NASA/Terry Zaperach

The northern lights were seen over Alaska the night of Feb. 16, 2017 at the the Poker Flat Research Range north of Fairbanks. Credit: NASA/Terry Zaperach

The northern lights were seen over Alaska the night of Feb. 16, 2017 at the the Poker Flat Research Range north of Fairbanks. Credit: NASA/Terry Zaperach

The northern lights were seen over Alaska the night of Feb. 16, 2017 at the the Poker Flat Research Range north of Fairbanks. Credit: NASA/Terry Zaperach

The northern lights were seen over Alaska the night of Feb. 16, 2017 at the the Poker Flat Research Range north of Fairbanks. Credit: NASA/Terry Zaperach

The northern lights were seen over Alaska the night of Feb. 16, 2017 at the the Poker Flat Research Range north of Fairbanks. Credit: NASA/Terry Zaperach

The northern lights were seen over Alaska the night of Feb. 16, 2017 at the the Poker Flat Research Range north of Fairbanks. Credit: NASA/Terry Zaperach

The northern lights were seen over Alaska the night of Feb. 16, 2017 at the the Poker Flat Research Range north of Fairbanks. Credit: NASA/Terry Zaperach

The northern lights were seen over Alaska the night of Feb. 16, 2017 at the the Poker Flat Research Range north of Fairbanks. Credit: NASA/Terry Zaperach

The northern lights were seen over Alaska the night of Feb. 16, 2017 at the the Poker Flat Research Range north of Fairbanks. Credit: NASA/Terry Zaperach

The northern lights were seen over Alaska the night of Feb. 16, 2017 at the the Poker Flat Research Range north of Fairbanks. Credit: NASA/Terry Zaperach

The northern lights were seen over Alaska the night of Feb. 16, 2017 at the the Poker Flat Research Range north of Fairbanks. Credit: NASA/Terry Zaperach

The northern lights were seen over Alaska the night of Feb. 16, 2017 at the the Poker Flat Research Range north of Fairbanks. Credit: NASA/Terry Zaperach

The northern lights were seen over Alaska the night of Feb. 16, 2017 at the the Poker Flat Research Range north of Fairbanks. Credit: NASA/Terry Zaperach

The northern lights were seen over Alaska the night of Feb. 16, 2017 at the the Poker Flat Research Range north of Fairbanks. Credit: NASA/Terry Zaperach

The northern lights were seen over Alaska the night of Feb. 16, 2017 at the the Poker Flat Research Range north of Fairbanks. Credit: NASA/Terry Zaperach

The northern lights were seen over Alaska the night of Feb. 16, 2017 at the the Poker Flat Research Range north of Fairbanks. Credit: NASA/Terry Zaperach

The northern lights were seen over Alaska the night of Feb. 16, 2017 at the the Poker Flat Research Range north of Fairbanks. Credit: NASA/Terry Zaperach

The northern lights were seen over Alaska the night of Feb. 16, 2017 at the the Poker Flat Research Range north of Fairbanks. Credit: NASA/Terry Zaperach

The northern lights were seen over Alaska the night of Feb. 16, 2017 at the the Poker Flat Research Range north of Fairbanks. Credit: NASA/Terry Zaperach

The northern lights were seen over Alaska the night of Feb. 16, 2017 at the the Poker Flat Research Range north of Fairbanks. Credit: NASA/Terry Zaperach

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

This page was originally published on Thursday, February 23, 2017.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:47 PM EDT.