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Skibotn Astrophysical Observatory
Professor Jan-Erik Solheim has compiled the history of the legendary Skibotn Astrophysical Observatory (1971-2002)
and how it has evolved since then. The article is in Norwegian.
Read history here. 1 November, 2024
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Master Nicolas!
Congratulate to Nicolas Mathieu Vincent Martinez who has completed his Master thesis at Luleå Technical University (LTU) and UNIS. He has documented and programed the new Meridian Imaging Svalbard Spectrograph no. 2 (MISS 2). We are very pleased with his work and look forward to testing it on aurora.
Read thesis here. 22 October, 2024
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Wake up!
Norway is on the verge of becoming a top dog in small satellite construction with the launch of the HYPSO-2 hyper spectral
imager into orbit. It is time to visualize a new upcoming space industry with unprecedented potential, if we dare to jump.
See Svalbardposten feature article. 2 October, 2024
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Good morning Norway
Our very own Prof. II, Pål Brekke explains the aurora on the norwegian TV2 news channel show named 'God morgen Norge'. Note that the visualizations and graphics are stunnnig.
Well done Pål!
See interview here. 27 September, 2024
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Life on Earth?
The results from the Endurance rocket launch from Ny-Ålesund back in May 2022 is now published in
Nature.
The rocket measured high altitude electric fields. These fields are fortunately too weak for the atmosphere to escape into space. The magnetic field of Earth protect our atmosphere from the solar wind, and life can exist.
Read Haaland and Baddeley's feature article in Svalbardposten.
9 September, 2024
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HYPSO-2 launched!
The Viking Saga needs an update! Today the NTNU
HYPSO-2 satellite was launched successfully by the Space X Transporter 11 rideshare mission from Vandenberg in California. The satellite contains an upgraded version of our Hyper Spectral Imager version 6 (HSI V6) that flies with the HYPSO-1 satellite. The instrumental design is developed at KHO. Salute! We are now space born for the second time!
Read NASA Space Flight (NSF) article here.
15 August, 2024
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Cloud study
Student Alessandro Marocco from
ENS in Paris has validated the Aurora Cloud Sensor III. The conclusion is that we can use a threshold clarity value to reliably differentiate between cloudy and clear sky conditions. The threshold is found not changing significantly from year to year over the period of data collection since 2016. Validation data were manually labelled auroral all-sky images and total cloudiness from the airport.
Read report here.
10 July, 2024
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Summer has arrived!
As a local tradition, it is finally summer when the stem of the Champagne glass is broken. Or, when the snow melts across
the steep downhill, located just to the right of the hilltop named Tenoren.
Seen from Longyearbyen, it is shaped as a
Champagne glass on the westward facing mountain side of The Opera Mountain. It happened today!
Click on left icon to view full resolution.
18 June, 2024
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New dome work in progress...
The work continues to replace our domes that have been water leaking. In addition,
LNS Spitsbergen has come up with a solution on how to
mount our sun protective aluminum dome covers.
This will be tested, and if necessary improved before the next dark season starts.
14 June, 2024
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Extreme Geomagnetic storm (G5)!
Five Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) from an
extremely hyperactive sunspot region of the Sun (AR3664) crashed into our atmosphere in the late evening of 10th of May.
Their arrival was immediately detected by our non-optical instruments. In addition,
our Norwegian satellites HYPSO-1, NORSAT-TD and SelfieSat-1 lost up to 2 km of altitude during the event.
According to radio amateur Stig Onarheim, HF radio communication was totally blocked, and hut owner Sverre Mejlœnder-Larsen at Vindodden reported extreme low internet connectivity to Starlink. Way South,
jaw-dropping auroras were observed during dark sky night conditions.
Read Stein Haaland's Svalbardposten feature article here. 15 May, 2024
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Professor Lisa Baddeley!
Salute! We congratulate Lisa on becoming a full Professor in Space physics at the Geophysical department at UNIS.
She has become a top dog in experimental radar applications.
Well done, Lisa! 26 January, 2024
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Black CMOS aurora
On 9th of January, we tested a Black silicon
CMOS development kit from the company SIONYX for the first time.
A snapshot image of a low intensity (1-2 kR) red colored post noon auroral arc was identified as soon as we turned the system on.
The camera operated at impressive 90 frames / second with only 11 msec exposure time.
The test is part of the new design of a Near Infra-Red (NIR) hyperspectral imager.
See more info here. 9 January, 2024
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