Hyperspectral all-sky imaging of auroras

Opt Express. 2012 Dec 3;20(25):27650-60. doi: 10.1364/OE.20.027650.

Abstract

A prototype auroral hyperspectral all-sky camera has been constructed and tested. It uses electro-optical tunable filters to image the night sky as a function of wavelength throughout the visible spectrum with no moving mechanical parts. The core optical system includes a new high power all-sky lens with F-number equal to f/1.1. The camera has been tested at the Kjell Henriksen Observatory (KHO) during the auroral season of 2011/2012. It detects all sub classes of aurora above ~½ of the sub visual 1kR green intensity threshold at an exposure time of only one second. Supervised classification of the hyperspectral data shows promise as a new method to process and identify auroral forms.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Astronomy / instrumentation*
  • Atmosphere*
  • Calibration
  • Lasers, Dye
  • Lenses*
  • Liquid Crystals
  • Models, Theoretical
  • Photography / instrumentation*
  • Photography / methods
  • Spectrum Analysis / instrumentation*
  • Spectrum Analysis / methods