Strange clouds have been spotted in the sky over Norway. What’s NASA’s involvement in this phenomenon? (See photos)

It's not every day that one can witness a rocket soaring into the sky, illuminated by vibrant auroras, and it's even rarer to see this rocket leaving behind swirling clouds as part of a NASA scientific study. However, this is exactly what Ivar Sandland, a tour company owner in Norway, experienced during a minor geomagnetic storm, reports Space.

According to Sandland, while traveling from one city to another on business, he stopped at the base of Mount Stetinden, which is one of Norway's national symbols. He had always wished to see the northern lights over the mountain's peak, and he achieved this goal. Given that Sandland always carries a camera with him, he was able to capture some stunning photographs.

At the same time, he noticed a peculiar swirling cloud in the sky. He later discovered that the cloud's origin was linked to the launch of a NASA meteorological rocket from the Andøya Space Center. It turned out that NASA had launched not one, but two meteorological rockets during the VortEx project. This project aims to enhance understanding of how energy flows through the turbopause, a region of the Earth's atmosphere where the mesosphere and thermosphere meet at an altitude of approximately 90 kilometers.

To investigate these interactions, scientists sent a suborbital research rocket equipped with trimethylaluminum, a compound used in electronics and semiconductor manufacturing.

After the rocket released trimethylaluminum into the atmosphere, swirling clouds formed in the sky, which may help determine how gravitational waves behave and interact at this level of the atmosphere.

The Andøya Space Center is located on the island of the same name in northern Norway, where meteorological rocket launches are frequently conducted. Due to its proximity to the Arctic Circle, this location is ideal for research on geomagnetic activity, auroras, and the effects of space weather on Earth.

The aurora occurs because charged particles from the Sun reach Earth, and our planet's magnetic field directs them towards the northern and southern poles. When these particles interact with gases in the atmosphere, they release energy in the form of light, creating breathtaking light displays.