Hey there! Did you know that we just got the first hyperspectral image of the Aurora Borealis? It’s like seeing a rainbow of lights in the sky. This new technology helps us understand more about these stunning lights and their colors. Let’s dive into what this means and why it’s so cool. In this article, we’ll explore how this new imaging works and what it tells us about the aurora.
A newly developed instrument now shows Earth’s Northern Lights or the Aurora Borealis in a dazzling rainbow of colors.
There’s no shortage of images of Earth’s auroras. The Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis, dazzling ribbons of light that dance over our planet’s northern and southern hemispheres, respectively, are well-documented by both amateur and professional astronomers whenever they appear.
But hyperspectral imaging of the aurora?
Now that’s a different beast.
Japan’s National Institute for Fusion Science (NIFS) has installed the ultra-sensitive Hyperspectral Camera (HySCAI) at the Swedish Space Center’s Kiruna Esrange Optical Platform Site (KEOPS) in Kiruna, Sweden. This camera has returned the first-ever hyperspectral images of the aurora.
A hyperspectral image is a two-dimensional image broken down by wavelength (or color). This allows researchers to study auroral emission in extraordinary detail. More specifically, they can measure the energy of incoming electrons that cause the aurora and trigger specific colors to light up the night sky. Other forms of auroral imaging are filtered by wavelength but don’t produce such a comprehensive overview.
With HySCAI, researchers hope to solve important auroral issues such as the distribution of precipitating electrons, their relationship to auroral color, and the mechanism of auroral emission, according to a press release.
To create HySCAI, the NIFS researchers used technology developed for the Large Helical Device (LHD), the world’s largest superconducting plasma device, located at their lab in Toki, Gifu, Japan. In building the LHD, the team devised various imaging systems to observe light emitted from plasma in a magnetic field, aiming to study energy transport and atomic and molecular emission.
Auroras are natural light shows sparked by charged particles from the sun, contained in the solar wind, hitting Earth’s magnetic field, the magnetosphere, and our planet’s thin atmosphere at high altitudes.
These particles collide with oxygen and nitrogen particles and energize them. The particles then shed this energy in the form of light or electromagnetic radiation that shines at characteristic wavelengths depending on the molecule emitting it.
That means a hyperspectral image of the Northern Lights can give a detailed picture of the composition of Earth’s atmosphere.
NIFS came up with the idea to adapt those systems for HySCAI in 2018. The imaging system took five more years to develop fully, and it was installed at KEOPS in May 2023. HySCAI became operational in September 2023, and the team has published its research on the data in the journal Earth, Planets and Space.
With HySCAI, scientists worldwide will gain new insight into the mysterious aurora.
Conclusion
In summary, the new hyperspectral images of the Aurora Borealis open up a world of possibilities for understanding these stunning light displays. This breakthrough helps us see the aurora in ways we never could before. We encourage you to leave comments, share your thoughts, or read more about this fascinating topic on our website, galaxysecrets.com. Your insights and engagement help us explore the wonders of the universe together.
