CanSats, Drones and Spectacular Views Associate prof. Lisa Baddeley reports on AGF-223 field work at KHO where the students launched their own small satellite payload from a drone. Read UNIS newsletter here. 13 November, 2023

New hyperspectral designs The design to create both a Near Infra-Red (NIR 700 - 1100 nm) and a Short Wave Infra-Red (SWIR 1000 - 1600 nm) Hyper Spectral Imager for the HYPSO-3 satellite mission has started, utilizing new technology, high speed black silicon and indium gallium arsenide image sensors. 24 October, 2023

Long-range hyperspectral shooting An experiment to test out telescopes as front optics to our Hyper Spectral Imager version 6 (HSI v6) has started. The aim is to improve the spatial resolution and evaluate a possible design for the next generation HYPSO-3 satellite. Goto Experiment. 25 April, 2023

Aurora Forecast Rocketeer Based on user feedback a new simplified version of the Aurora Forecast app is published today on Apple App Store (iOS) and Google Play (Android). The aim is to provide an easy-to-use app with focus on auroral forecasting using only your phone location sensor. New feature is virtual space travel by rocket to other planets in the solar system. Note that the old 3D app will still be updated. More info and computer downloads here. July 14, 2023

12 years in service! Version 8.5 of our Aurora Forecast 3D app is now published in Google Play (Android) and App Store (iOS). The work to provide a free of charge mobile auroral forecast service dates back to 2011. It is now downloaded more than 100K+ and is rated above 4 on a 5-point rating scale. More info and computer downloads here. June 2, 2023

Extraterrestrials? FMI is dedicated to operating their BACC #4 camera at Muonio until the very end of the optical season. They do not want to miss a single aurora event even! See image of unexpected guest inspecting the all-sky camera lens here. April 1, 2023

Star visit Irish star comedian and UK television presenter Dara Ó Briain has visited our observatory. Katie and Lisa turned the aurora ON, and Dara reported from the roof of KHO that is was a brilliant light show! See tweet here. Januar 29, 2023

HYPSO-1 First publication! The first scientific paper with data from our hyperspectral imager onboard the HYPSO-1 satellite is now published in Remote sensing. The satellite is one of the smallest of its kind performing ocean spectral scanning with high signal to noise characteristics. Read paper. Januar 28, 2023

Instrumental boost Several new groups and instruments have finally joined the observatory after the pandemic. Two high-end interferometer systems, a single wavelength all-sky camera, a Near-InfraRed (NIR) spectrometer, a NIR camera and a GNSS receiver have been installed successfully. See below links for further information. Januar 10, 2023

#	New instruments	Group
1	The Hot Oxygen Doppler Imager (HODI)	NJIT
2	Fabry Perot Interferometer (FPI)	PRIC
3	Single-wavelength Auroral Imager (SAI)	PRIC
4	Near InfraRed Aurora and airglow Spectrograph - 2 (NIRAS-2)	NIPR
5	Near InfraRed Aurora Camera (NIRAC)	NIPR
6	Global Navigation Satellite Systems receiver (GNSS)	UCB