NORFOLK, VA (AP) — Skywatchers in Wilmington and along the East Coast may be able to see a NASA experiment that will launch a series of rockets to learn more about the little-understood jet stream winds that circle the Earth at the edge of space.

On a clear night between March 14 and April 4, NASA plans to launch five rockets in five minutes from its Wallops Island facility in coastal Virginia.

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Each rocket will release a chemical leaving a long, milky-white cloud to track the winds that scientists will monitor from cameras in North Carolina, Virginia and New Jersey.

The clouds should be visible to the human eye for about 20 minutes from roughly Myrtle Beach to southern New Hampshire, and as far west as Morgantown, W.Va.

The possible viewing area covers major cities like Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and Boston, although it depends on ground lighting, cloud cover and the rockets’ trajectories. Those in a smaller area from New York City to the Outer Banks in North Carolina might be able to see the rockets’ glowing exhaust trails.

The rockets will crash into the Atlantic Ocean, where they will become artificial reefs.

The winds in the thermosphere about 65 miles above the surface can reach speeds up to 300 miles per hour. That altitude is also part of the ionosphere, where there are strong electrical currents from solar radiation.

Scientists also hope the experiment will help explain how atmospheric disturbances in one part of the globe can be transported to other parts of the globe in a day or two.

They aren’t the same jet stream currents that circle closer to earth, affecting weather patterns and air travel.