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- NATION, Page 47American NotesSCIENCENASA's Light Show
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- It took the combined resources of NASA and the U.S. Air
- Force to stage the $250 million fireworks display, but they
- promise it will be well worth the price. During the next two
- weeks, a team of scientists is planning a dazzling light show
- as part of a project to study the earth's magnetic fields.
- Fourteen canisters containing barium and lithium will be
- released from a satellite orbiting as high as 20,000 miles
- above the earth, creating a display of luminous red, green and
- purple clouds over much of North and South America, the Atlantic
- and Western Europe. Scientists hope that by monitoring the
- movement of the clouds, they will improve their ability to
- predict disturbances in the magnetic and electrical fields that
- surround the earth, and learn how the planet absorbs energy
- from the sun.
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