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From Pink Tentacle:
People in Japan this Saturday evening will be treated to a "space fireworks" show consisting of three balls of red light in the sky, each glowing as bright as the moon.
These luminous orbs will be the result of three clouds of lithium vapor released into the ionosphere by a rocket launched in an experiment to study the atmosphere. The red glow will be caused by sunlight striking the lithium vapor clouds as they disperse. "In the first few seconds after each lithium release, the light should become as large and bright as the moon," says team member Masayuki Yamamoto, a professor at Kochi University of Technology.
Currently scheduled for Saturday (Sep 1, 2007) at 7:29 PM, the one and a half minute long space fireworks show will be most visible in western Japan at about 20 degrees above the southern horizon, but people in the Tokyo area may be able to see the light at about 10 degrees above the southwestern horizon.
Read the whole article
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