HIPAS stands for High Power Auroral Stimulation. The HIPAS Observatory is operated by the UCLA plasma physics laboratory, and is located 25 miles (approximately 40 km) from Fairbanks, Alaska.

The facility is home to several projects with some interesting equipment, including:

• A plasma torch, used for experiments in hazardous waste disposal
• A 2.8 meter liquid mirror telescope, which uses a spinning bowl of mercury to form the mirror, used for laser experiments.
• An array of antennae which are used for heating the ionosphere, and which can create artificial Aurora.

Some of the research conducted at HIPAS is similar to the controversial HAARP project, and so the staff of the facility sometimes have to answer the same questions from the public.

External links

• UCLA HIPAS Observatory
• UCLA Department of Physics & Astronomy