Unusual and Unexplainable Structures Hover Above the Earth, According to NASA Scientists

NASA scientists have reported sightings of mysterious shapes flying around above the Earth. The unusual sightings tend to appear out of nowhere at unforeseen times and have sparked considerable interest in their origin, with some scientists suggesting they could help us better understand the complexities of our planet’s atmosphere.

Researchers worldwide spend considerable time studying the various layers of Earth’s atmosphere, hoping to gain a better understanding of this complex system.

NASA researchers uncovered the mysterious shapes while using an instrument known as the Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD), a mission led by Richard Eastes Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics.

The recent observations of mysterious C- and X-shaped formations in the ionosphere are not the first time such phenomena have been witnessed. However, GOLD has provided researchers with much clearer images.

Earth’s ionosphere is part of our planet’s upper atmosphere, sitting between 50 and 400 miles above the surface. Throughout the day, sunlight comes into contact with the field, electrically charging it in the process.

The discovery of these shapes dancing around in the ionosphere has led some researchers to suggest they could revolutionize radio communications and weather forecasting in space, potentially enhancing their effectiveness.

New data published in The Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics explained the shapes can also form in what the researchers deem “quiet times.”

Fazlul Laskar, an ionosphere physicist at the University of Colorado who co-authored the paper, shared a statement with NASA, explaining, “Earlier reports of merging were only during geomagnetically disturbed conditions.”

Researchers have been left puzzled by the rarer C- and reverse C-shaped bubbles in the plasma of the ionosphere. Initially, they were thought to have been created by winds on Earth.

While the groups of C shapes remain very sparse at the moment, researchers have revealed they will continue to investigate the phenomena, hoping to better understand what’s behind their appearance in the ionosphere.

Astrophysicist Jeffrey Klenzing from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, who wasn’t directly involved in the study, shared his thoughts on the various shapes observed in the ionosphere.

Plasma in the ionosphere plays a pivotal role in enabling radio waves to travel long distances, so any disruption will negatively affect Earth’s communication and navigational infrastructure.

The Earth isn’t the only planet that has unexpected structures floating above it. Scientists discovered that Jupiter’s Great Red Spot—a long-lasting area of high pressure on Jupiter that creates a persistent storm—is showing unusual activity.

The researchers found that this variation is not sunlight, which the planet uses to create energy, but a deeper messy layer of the Jovian atmosphere.

“One way in which you can change this structure is by gravity waves—similar to waves crashing on a beach, creating ripples in the sand,” explained team leader Henrik Melin, of the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom, said in a statement.

These observations were a part of the Early Release Science program (ERS) for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWSP). More and more astronomers have become curious about what is happening in Jupiter’s upper atmosphere for a while.

“One of our objectives had been to investigate why the temperature above the Great Red Spot appeared to be high, as at the time recent observations with the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility had revealed,” the team writes.

These markings are not the only strange phenomena that lit up the Earth’s sky. While each of these observations comes with speculation about something else happening (maybe aliens or something more Lovecraftian), there is a scientific explanation behind these bizarre sightings.

Above the town of Possagno in northern Italy, a disk of red light appears in the sky for a few milliseconds before abruptly vanishing. The fluorescent frisbee is known as an “emission of light and very low-frequency perturbations due to electromagnetic pulse sources,” (via LiveScience).

An astronomer at Queen’s University Belfast in Northern Ireland showed a spectacular set of luminous arcs and halo shining around the sun. While many dismiss these ethereal lights as a lens flare, sunlight shining through millions of tiny ice crystals actually creates them by refracting light.

Looking down at the Earth, astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) saw two bizarre blue blobs of light glimmering in our planet’s atmosphere.

Above the night sky of Alaska, an ethereal whirlpool of blue light emerged from the strong auroral display. This spiral-shaped object had nothing to do with the polar lights, but the results of frozen rocket fuel ejected by the second stage of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets.

What is more beautiful than a purple and pink evening sky? Well, how about a rainbow one? These multicolor clouds, known as polar stratospheric clouds, were spotted in the night sky above the Arctic.

A telescope on Hawaii’s tallest peak spotted bright green laser lines flashing across the night sky. These laser lights only lasted for about a second, but inspired online comparison with “digital rain.”