Excited Light

Researchers from the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program facility near Gakona, Alaska have had their first successes creating a man-made Aurora Borealis. With continued advances, their experiments might someday become a means by which to illuminate urban areas or perhaps become a way to create celestial advertising (scary).

Using a 960 kilowatt transmitter and acres of antenna arrays, the scientists were able to stimulate the heavens with pulses of radio energy. An artificial overhead phosphorescence was visible to the naked eye and may lead to both a superior understanding of the natural auroral phenomena and advances in atmospheric illumination.

Via Near Near Future