NASA’s Illuminate: Dark Secrets of the Black Aurora

Colors of the aurora: Red, green, purple… black? Mysterious “black auroras” are real, and they’re not like the northern and southern lights you’ve seen before. Inside these dark spots, strange physics is at work — and a NASA rocket just launched from Alaska to reveal it. On Feb. 9, 2026, NASA launched the Black and Diffuse Auroral Science Surveyor sounding rocket mission from the Poker Flat Research Range near Fairbanks, Alaska. Flying their rocket through the black aurora, the team, led by principal investigator Marilia Samara, placed scientific instruments inside a black aurora to help reveal how and why they form. NASA’s Illuminate: Out-of-this-world images shining light on our Sun and solar system. Music credit: "Solo Trip” by Nicholas Smith [PRS] from Universal Production Music Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Producer/Editor/Narrator: Lacey Young (eMITS) Writer: Lacey Young (eMITS), Miles Hatfield (eMITS) Sound Effects: Pixabay This video can be freely shared and downloaded at https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14954. While the video in its entirety can be shared without permission, the music and some individual imagery may have been obtained through permission and may not be excised or remixed in other products. Specific details on such imagery may be found here: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14954. For more information on NASA’s media guidelines, visit https://www.nasa.gov/nasa-brand-center/images-and-media/. If you liked this video, subscribe to the NASA Goddard YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/NASAGoddard Follow NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center · Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/nasagoddard · X: http://twitter.com/NASAGoddard · Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/NASAGoddard · Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc