3 NASA Rockets Trailing Colorful Vapors To Be Visible In New York Monday — See When

NEW YORK — Space-bound rockets trailing brightly colored vapors could be visible in the sky above New York on Monday night, NASA scientists said.

But, it's more than just an air show — NASA is launching three rockets into a turbulent layer of the Earth's atmosphere to investigate its wind patterns and the scientists are using pigmented vapor tracers to see the patterns and photograph them in real time.

On Monday night, the three rockets will launch at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia sometime between 10 p.m. Monday and 3 a.m. Tuesday.

According to a map published by NASA, New York City will be able to see the rockets in the sky approximately 30-40 seconds after the launch.

The mission is called The Turbulent Oxygen Mixing Experiment Plus, or TOMEX+.

The mission is focusing on a layer of the Earth's atmosphere about 53 to 65 miles above ground called the mesopause, which is hard to measure because it is to high up for weather balloons, and too low for satellites.

The first two rockets will have the colorful vapor tracers, made with compound similar to those in fireworks, NASA officials said. Those rockets will launch within a minute of each other.

The third rocket, launching around five minutes after the first two, will contain specialized mapping and measuring equipment as well as a laser that will cause a naturally occurring meteor dust in the atmosphere to turn florescent.

By causing this layer of the air to fluoresce, researchers will be able to track atmospheric movements and measure density changes over time, NASA officials said.

Scientists at NASA want to monitor this layer of the atmosphere because it's where icy, night-shining clouds form and where some weather patterns transfer energy out into space, creating turbulence that can affect NASA's satellites.

The launch was supposed to be last week, but Hurricane Erin delayed the experiment.

Follow live updates on Wallops Facebook and X, with a livestream beginning five minutes before launch.

For questions and tips, email Miranda.Levingston@Patch.com.