By MARK THIESSEN | Associated Press
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Northern lights enthusiasts got a surprise mixed in with the green bands of light dancing in the Alaska skies: A light baby blue spiral resembling a galaxy appeared amid the aurora for a few minutes.
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The cause early Saturday morning, April 15, was a little more mundane than an alien invasion or the appearance of a portal to the far reaches of the universe. It was simply excess fuel released from a rocket owned by Hawthorne-based SpaceX that launched from California about three hours earlier.
Sometimes rockets have fuel that needs to be jettisoned, said space physicist Don Hampton, a research associate professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute.
“When they do that at high altitudes, that fuel turns into ice,” he said. “And if it happens to be in the sunlight, when you’re in the darkness on the ground, you can see it as a sort of big cloud, and sometimes it’s swirly.”
While not a common sight, Hampton said he’s seen such occurrences about three times.
The appearance of the swirl was caught in time-lapse on the Geophysical Institute’s all-sky camera and shared widely. “It created a bit of an internet storm with that spiral,” Hampton said.
Photographers out for the northern lights show also posted their photos on social media.
“This all happened as it passed over Alaska during a beautiful aurora display, stunning many night-watchers including myself,” professional photographer Todd Salat, known for stunning aurora images, told The Associated Press in an email.
“Trust me, at first, I was totally bewildered,” he said. “I now know it can be explained with rocket science, but during and immediately after the experience, I thoroughly enjoyed the mysterious feeling of the unknown.”
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