In this paper, we consider disturbances in the airglow of the Earth’s upper atmosphere caused by a launch of the Yamal-601 satellite on May 30, 2019. For this purpose, we used the data acquired with an optical system of the Institute of Solar−Terrestrial Physics, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences (ISTP SB RAS). The measurements were carried out at the Geophysical Observatory (GPO) of the ISTP SB RAS (~52° N, ~103° E) with a complex of optical instruments—a whole-sky camera, a spectrograph, and a Fabry–Pérot interferometer. According to the data of the KЕО Sentinel camera, an extensive area of airglow was observed along the flightpath; it appeared approximately 2−4 min after the spacecraft’s passage over the GPO and existed for ~20 min. A transversal scale of the spacecraft’s flightpath is estimated approximately as 95–110 km if the spontaneous-emission altitude is assumed to be at ~150 km (and it is about 190–220 km if the spontaneous-emission altitude is ~300 km). We discuss the mechanisms that may result in forming the observed area of airglow, including the mechanisms connected with the physical and chemical interaction of fuel products with atmospheric components and the influence of propagation of a shock wave or short-period internal gravitational waves. Probable causes of the delay observed in appearing the airglow after the spacecraft’s flyby are analyzed.

A technique is described for referecing images of wide-angle optical systems intended for registration own radiation of the Earth's atmosphere, to geographic coordinates. The technique is based on an automatic procedure for the stars emphasing and identification in the frames and subsequent georeferencing. An example of the technique use for calculating the characteristics of a long-lived meteor trail based on observation data of two spatially separated wide-angle optical systems is shown.

The paper examines the results of optical observations obtained during Radar Progress experiments to study the effects (the occurrence of extensive, faintly luminous regions and a decrease in plasma concentration) arising from a release of fuel-combustion products from spacecraft engines into the upper atmosphere of the Earth. Analysis of the results of controlled experiments on the injection of “plasma-quenching” compositions into the ionosphere at orbital altitudes indicates that the observed increase in [OI] 630.0-nm intensity in the Radar Progress experiments as a consequence of chemical modification of the ionosphere. The contribution of various components of the injected substance (H2, OH, Н2О, CO, and СО2) to the increase in the intensity of atomic oxygen [OI] luminescence at a wavelength of 630.0 nm and to a change in the concentration of the charged component of the upper atmosphere is considered. It is shown that the change in the luminescence intensity and the concentration of the charged component are due to different chemical reactions. The largest contribution to the increase in luminescence intensity is made by the injection of hydrogen and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, while the decrease in the concentration of plasma particles is mainly caused by the injection of water vapor. It has been found that the characteristic spatiotemporal scales of luminous regions occurring in the upper atmosphere allow them to be recorded by modern spectrophotometric equipment from the Earth’s surface without additional information about the time of ignition of the spacecraft engines.

This paper presents the results of optical observations in the active space experiment “Radar-Progress” on April 17, 2013, after switching on the approach-correction engine of the Progress M-17M cargo spacecraft at thermospheric heights (412 km), are presented in this paper. During engine operation, a region of enhanced emission intensity has been recorded. It was presumably related to the scatter of twilight solar emission at the engine exhausts in the cargo spacecraft orbit and, probably to the occurrence of an additional emission in the atomic oxygen line [OI] 630 nm. The maximum observed dimensions of the emission region were ~350 and ~250 km along the orbit and across it, respectively. The velocity of the expansion of the emission region at the first moments after the initiation of engine operation was ~7 and ~3.5 km/s along the orbit and across it, respectively. The maximum intensity of the disturbed region is estimated to be a value equivalent to ~40–60 R within the spectral band of 2 nm. No optical manifestation, which would exceed the natural variations in brightness of the night airglow and which would be related to possible large-scale modification of the ionosphere, was detected in the natural emission lines [O] 557.7 and 630.0 nm in a zone remote from the place of injection of engine exhausts.

The main data on observations of the Sun, interplanetary medium, and magnetosphere, obtained mainly by home researchers during the stroncyest magnetic storm of November 20, 2003 (Dst = -472 nT), are presented in the work. This period corresponds to the next earthward turning of the active side of the Sun that generated the series of the strongest solar flares (including flares of class > X17) and the magnetic storm with Dst = -401 nT from the end of October to the beginning of November 2003. Although the number and power of the flares were much smaller during the period under study, the magnetic storm was the second strongest for the entire period of observation of the Dst index and was apparently caused by the interaction of frequently occurred coronal mass ejections in the interplanetary space, as a result of which the region of interaction compressed and the southern IMF component increased to less than -45 nT.

The results of measuring the main parameters of the large-scale traveling disturbances of the mid-latitude ionosphere at the maximum phase of the large magnetic storm of April 6, 2000, have been presented. The total electron content (TEC) changes have been obtained from the data of the GPS stations in Russia and Central Asia. The emission rates of the upper atmospheric OI 557.7- and 630-nm lines and the 360-410 and 720-830 nm spectral bands were measured simultaneously with TEC at the observatory of the Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics, Siberian Division, Russian Academy of Sciences, located near Irkutsk (51.9degrees N, 103.0degrees E), using the FENIX optical complex. The variations in the O-2 866.5-nm emission rate have been obtained, using the MORTI complex, at the Institute of the Ionosphere, Ministry of Education and Science, Kazakhstan, located near Alma-Ata (43.2degrees N, 77.0degrees E). The variations in the critical frequency and altitude of the F2 layer were measured at the same institute with the help of a standard ionosonde. A data analysis indicated that the large-scale solitary wave with a duration of about I It and a not less than 5000-km-wide wavefront, formed as a result of the auroral disturbance, propagated equatorward over a distance of not less than 1000 km at an average velocity of similar to200 m/s. The TEC disturbance, reflecting mainly a decrease in the electron concentration near the F2-layer maximum, correlates well with the emission rate, which increases in the optical range with a time shift different for different ionospheric attitudes.