Japanese Version

The South Pole All-Sky Imager Project Since 1997

New address is http://polaris.nipr.ac.jp/~asi-dp/

About ASI
    Objectives
    Instrument
    Sample Images
Data
    2005
    1997-2004
Pictures
    South Pole
Papers
    Publication
    Presentation
Contact
    Contact




This project is supported by The National Science Foundation.
Aurora comes back! We started observation on April 11, 2008.

This picture was taken at the South Pole Station on April 12, 2008.

Near-realtime aurora images
from South Pole
00 UT01 UT02 UT03 UT04 UT05 UT
06 UT07 UT08 UT09 UT10 UT11 UT
12 UT13 UT14 UT15 UT16 UT17 UT
18 UT19 UT20 UT21 UT22 UT23 UT
Past auroral images in 2005
Latest MPEG movie of green aurora

News

  • The austral auroral season ends on September 2.
  • The all-sky imager went back to normal (April 19, 2004)
    Near real time data stream started flowing from the South Pole via White Sands, NM, USA.
  • Observation started (April 16, 2004)
    The all-sky imager started taking pictures in test mode.
  • Sunrise at South Pole.
    The sunrise at South Pole takes place only once year! This movie shows how the Sun rises at South Pole at equinox.

    Movie (Windows Media 1MB)
    Movie (MPEG 15MB)
  • Mars, aurora and twilight on the day when Mars got closest to Earth.

  • Near-realtime images are being delivered from South Pole everyday.









Objectives
  • To study the dayside auroral phenomena at the cusp/cleft region, the afternoon auroral developments and the polar cap aurora, all associated with the magnetic storm/substorm activities and the solar wind conditions.
  • To investigate the gravity waves and tidal oscillations at the South Pole, using multi-wavelength airglow.
Aurora oval and geomagnetic coordinates
Movie (Windows Media 0.8MB)



Geomagnetic field lines extending from the field-of-view of the all-sky imager at South Pole
Movie (Windows Media 4MB)
Instrument

(1) Optics

Objective Lens Nikkor F1.4, f-6mm, 180degree FOV, Fish-eye
Throughput AΩ=0.91cm2str
Filters (1997-2000) 427.8nm, 557.7nm, 630.0nm, 730.0nm, Panchromatic
Filters (2002) 427.8nm, 557.7nm, 630.0nm, 589.0nm, 730.0nm
Filters (2003) 427.8nm, 557.7nm, 630.0nm, 589.0nm, 486.1nm
Filters (2004) 427.8nm, 557.7nm, 630.0nm, 589.0nm, 486.1nm
Filters (2005) 427.8nm, 557.7nm, 630.0nm, 589.0nm, 486.1nm

(2) Image Sensor

Image Sensor Back-illuminated charge coupled device (CCD)
Image size 512x512 pixels
A/D resolution 14bit

(3) Data/Control System

PC for control HP NetServer E200 (Windows NT 4.0 Server)
PC for storage Pentium III 500 MHz (RedHat Linux 8.0)
Time Synchronization GPS Network Time Server

(4) Data Transfer

Command upload Internet (approx. 100Byte/day)
Data download TDRS/Ku-band (approx. 1-3 GByte/day)
Schematic of data/command link.
Data
Sample

(1) Aurora

557.7nm(11:50:30 on August 11, 1997)
 630.0nm(11:50:56 on August 11, 1997)
Diurnal variation of aurora (Windows Media Movie)

(2) Airglow

2000 UT on June 16, 2002
07
Contact

Representative of the imager: Yusuke Ebihara (Nagoya University, Institute for Advanced Studies, Japan)

This project has been conducted under the collaboration of Siena University and National Institute of Polar Research with support from National Science Foundation (NSF) since 2007. PI for this project is Allan Weatherwax (Siena College, USA)