Measuring the winds of space: UAF team prepares for 2014 launch
The sounding rocket released bright puffs of tri-methyl aluminum, which scientists track from the ground to study winds near the lower boundary of space. The streak on the bottom right is formed by chemicals that have been moved and distorted by winds and turbulence.
Photo Courtesy Carl Andersen
On a clear, cold night two winters ago in Fort Yukon, Carl Andersen watched a rocket he helped design pierce the upper atmosphere. He and three other scientists shot pictures as the rocket ejected bright puffs of chemicals in an inverted V formation more than 60 miles up.
“They were the brightest things in the sky,” Andersen said from his office at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Alaska Science Forum: Measuring the winds of space
By molly [dot] rettig [at] gi [dot] alaska [dot] edu (Molly Rettig) 
On a clear, cold night two winters ago in Fort Yukon, Carl Andersen watched a rocket he helped design pierce the upper atmosphere. He and three other scientists shot pictures as the rocket ejected bright puffs of chemicals in an inverted V formation more than 60 miles up.
Big booms over the northland
A photo from the Leonid Kulik expedition to the Tunguska region of Russia in 1929. A meteorite or comet knocked down millions of trees in one of the largest space-object-meets-Earth events in recorded history.
The Leonid Kulik Expedition, St. Petersburg Museum.
Near a small village in Russia, Marina Ivanova stepped into cross-country skis and kicked toward a hole in the snow. The meteorite specialist with the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History and Vernadsky Institute in Moscow was hunting for fragments of the great Chelyabinsk Meteorite that exploded three days earlier.
Alaska Science Forum: Big booms over the northland
By nrozell [at] gi [dot] alaska [dot] edu (Ned Rozell)
Auroral Alert issued: Solar event should spur auroral activity April 12-13
A solar event on April 11, 2013 was facing Earth and should increase auroral activity for 24 to 48 hours after the arrival of the shock front, expected late on April 12 or early April 13.
After a lifetime of study, aurora still a mystery
Syun-Ichi Akasofu in his office.
Photos by Ned Rozell.
Sometimes, after idling in the sky for hours as a greenish glow, the aurora catches fire, erupting toward the magnetic north pole in magnificent chaos that can last for three hours. “Substorms,” as space physicists call them, can happen two or three times each night.
The man who came up with that name half a century ago has, with a former student he once mentored, come up with a new theory on the location of heavenly energy for these auroras.
Alaska Science Forum: After a lifetime of study, aurora still a mystery
By nrozell [at] gi [dot] alaska [dot] edu (Ned Rozell)
Sometimes, after idling in the sky for hours as a greenish glow, the aurora catches fire, erupting toward the magnetic north pole in magnificent chaos that can last for three hours. “Substorms,” as space physicists call them, can happen two or three times each night.
Donald Hampton
Oct. 2001-Present: Research Assistant Professor in Space Physics, Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Nov. 2006-Oct. 2011: Optical Science Manager, Poker Flat Research Range and Geophysical Institute Chief Systems Engineer, Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS) Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.
2005-2006: Chief Systems Engineer, Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS) Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.
1999-2006: Systems Engineer, Deep Impact Instrument Suite, Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.
1996-1999: System Engineer, Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.
Lynch, K.A., D. Hampton, M. Mella, B. Zhang, H. Dahlgren, M. Disbrow, P.M. Kintner, M. Lessard, E. Lundberg and H.C. Stenbaek-Nielsen. (2012). Structure and dynamics of the nightside poleward boundary: Sounding rocket and ground-based observations of auroral electron precipitation in a rayed curtain. Journal of Geophysical Research, 117, A11202, doi: 10.1029/2012JA017691.
Nicolls, M.J., S.L. Vadas, J.W. Meriwether, M.G. Conde and D. Hampton. (2012). The phases and amplitudes of gravity waves propagating and dissipating in the thermosphere: Application to measurements over Alaska. Journal of Geophysical Research, 117, A05323, doi: 10.1029/2012JA017542.
Garner, T.W., R.B. Harris, J.A. York, C.S. Herbster, C.F. Minter III and D.L. Hampton. (2011). An auroral scintillation observation using precise, collocated GPS receivers. Radio Science, 46, RS1018, doi: 10.1029/2010RS004412.
Samara, M., R.G. Michell, K. Asamura, M. Hirahara, D.L. Hampton and H.C. Stenbaek-Nielsen. (2010). Ground-based observations of diffuse auroral structures in conjunction with Reimei measurements. Annales Geophysicae, 28, 873-881.
Semeter, J., T. Butler, C. Heinselman, M. Nicolls, J. Kelley, D. Hampton. (2009). Volumetric imaging of the auroral ionosphere: Intital results from PFISR. Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics, 71, 738-743.
A'Hearn, M.J. et al. (35 in all, including D.L. Hampton). (2011). EPOXI at Comet Hartley 2. Science, 332(6036), 1396-1400, doi: 10.1126/science.1204054.
Sunshine, J.M., et al. (19 in all, including D.L. Hampton). (2005). Exposed water ice deposits on the surface of Comet 9P/Tempel 1. Science, 311, 1453-1455.
A'Hearn, M.F., et al. (33 in all, including D.L. Hampton). (2005). Deep Impact: Excavating Comet Tempel 1. Science, 310, 258-264, 14 October 2005.
Hampton, D.L., J.W. Baer, M.A. Huisjen, C.C. Varner, A. Delamere, D.D. Wellnitz, M.F. A'Hearn and K.P. Klaasen. (2005). An overview of the instrument suite for the Deep Impact mission. Space Science Review, 117, 43-93.
Hampton, D.L., M.J. Heavner, E.M. Wescott and D.D. Sentman. (1996). Optical spectral characteristics of sprites. Geophysical Research Letters, 23, 89-92.
Successful launch from Poker Flat Research Range
but then, a camera stationed downrange at Kaktovik, Alaska showed some promising aurora. From there, everything lined up to create the perfect conditions for the VISIONS sounding rocket to launch. At 11:21 p.m.
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