A trimethyl aluminum (TMA) release rocket launched during the 1998 Coqui II sounding rocket campaign in Puerto Rico produced what appeared to be an artificially generated aurora. This phenomenon has been observed on several other occasions but has heretofore not been reported. In this paper we discuss the observation of artificially generated auroral light in relation to a kerosene-doped TMA release and propose an auroral generation mechanism involving motion of charged particulates associated with the TMA trail. ¿ 2001 American Geophysical Union