Watchers of the night sky along much of Alaska's road system may catch a colorful splotch of light up high in the air over the weekend. Though it might look like the aurora, the red or greenish "airglow" in the ionosphere is a byproduct of a rare, four-day-long set of experiments at the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program   or HAARP   in Gakona.

"Each day, the airglow could be visible up to 300 ... miles from the HAARP facility," according to a statement from the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

By creating an artificial aurora with equipment on the ground, researchers hope to learn more about the natural aurora.

The research campaign was scheduled to take place from Saturday through Tuesday.

HAARP is composed of instruments designed to study the ionosphere, the area roughly 50 to 400 miles above Earth, separating the livable surface of the planet from space.

High-frequency radio pulses will excite electrons in the ionosphere, artificially mimicking the same phenomenon that causes the northern lights naturally from solar energy kicked off by the sun.

The experiments are being conducted by UAF and several out-of-state research programs.

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