SGO Optical Instrumentation

SGO has four independent optical instruments:

• SkyI colour all sky imager: operated at SOD 2020-today
• emCCD all sky imager: operated at SOD 2007-2012, ABK 2013-today
• Meteor camera: operated at SOD 2013-today
• iCCD all sky imager: operated at SOD 2000-2021 (retired)

In addition, SGO hosts optical guest instruments at SOD:

• UCL Fabry-Perot Interferometer 2003-today, contact: Prof Anasuya Aruliah, APL, University College London, UK
• UCL All-Sky Colour Imager 2003-today, contact: Prof Anasuya Aruliah, APL, University College London, UK
• ISEE 100Hz All-Sky imager 2016-today, contact: Dr Shin-Ichiro Oyama, ISEE, University of Nagoya, Japan
• NIPR 10Hz All-Sky imager 2016-today, contact: Dr Yasunobu Ogawa, National Institute of Polar Research, Tokyo, Japan

The auroral cameras of SGO are in operation between late August and late April, when the Sun is at least 10° below the horizon and it is dark enough to see the northern lights.

The iCCD and emCCD cameras are part of the MIRACLE network, running the MIRACLE sequences: the iCCD camera at SOD, which is retired since spring 2021, took photos through the green filter (557nm) every 20 seconds and through the red (630nm) and blue (428nm) filters once per minute. In addition, it took "white images" (2s exposure without any filter) every 15 minutes.

Both imagers are calibrated in FMI calibration laboratory once per year usually in the context of the Nordic optical intercalibration session.

Overview data are presented as keograms and time-lapse movies. iCCD and emCCD keograms and timelapse movies are available online in the SGO data archive. Latest keograms of the MIRACLE stations are available on the MIRACLE site. MIRACLE keograms are uploaded to the MIRACLE page every working day morning (excluding holidays). SGO's own keogram archive and ASC movies are updated periodically.

The Atmospheric Physics Laboratory of the University College of London have a all sky colour imager next to their Fabry-Perot interferometer. The camera takes a snapshot of the sky every 2 minutes. The exposure time is 30 seconds. Sometimes, especially during full Moon, there are reflections of the Fabry-Perot mirrors in the images. Since January 2017 there has been AuroraTech Cloud sensor next to UCL dome. While SGO displays realtime images from these instruments, all requests regarding the use of the data should be directed to APL, UCL.

The Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research (ISEE), University of Nagoya, Japan, operates its 100-Hz emCCD imager at SOD. It is one of four high-speed all-sky cameras located in Fenno-Scandinavia. The research interest is pulsating auroras. The sites were selected for best conjuctions of the Japanese Arase (ERG) satellite. The dome structure for the camera was developed by SGO technical laboratory. There are also two 10-Hz all-sky imagers from National Institute of Polar Research, Tokyo, Japan.