AIM Stories
Night-Shining Cloud Mission Ends; Yields High Science Results for NASA
Update, Aug. 19: The AIM spacecraft re-entered Earth’s atmosphere at 10:38 a.m. EDT on Monday, Aug. 19. The U.S. Department of Defense confirmed the re-entry occurred near the Egypt/Sudan border. NASA has received no immediate reports of surviving fragments. Editor’s…
Rocket Launches Can Create Night-Shining Clouds Away from the Poles, NASA’s AIM Mission Reveals
Near Earth’s North and South poles, wispy, iridescent clouds often shimmer high in the summertime sky around dusk and dawn. These night-shining, or noctilucent, clouds are sometimes spotted farther from the poles as well, at a rate that varies dramatically…
Tiny Meteors Leave Smoke in the Atmosphere. NASA’s Studying It.
It’s time for the Geminids, the annual December meteor shower! Every year, Earth passes through the debris trail from the asteroid 3200 Phaethon. The pea-sized rocks it leaves behind burn up in our atmosphere, producing glowing trails in the night…