Categories: AstronomyAurora

This Aurora Video Shows How High The Lights Were Whizzing

Ever stood outside looking at the aurora and felt as though it was swirling just a short distance above your head? It’s hard to judge altitude when looking at sky phenomena because there are few landmarks above us. (The moon effect at the horizon is an example.) But it turns out there is a way to measure aurora altitude.

The eerie, green glow of the Northern Lights swirls about in the video you see above. A group of researchers used a unique but simple technique to measure how high the electrons were during the dazzling light display: they mounted two digital SLRs eight kilometers (five miles) apart in Alaska, and used that old astronomical friend, parallax, to measure distances.

“Using the parallax of the left-eye and the right-eye images, we can calculate the distance to the aurora using a [triangulation] method that is similar to the way the human brain comprehends the distance to an object,” stated Ryuho Kataoka, an associate professor at the National Institute of Polar Research in Japan. “Parallax is the difference in the apparent position of an object when observed at different angles.”

Altitude measurements have been done before using this technique, but it’s the first time digital SLRs were employed, the research team said. A typical aurora has electrons that are between 90 kilometers and 400 kilometers (55 miles and 249 miles) high.

By the way, for all the amateur astronomy photographers, there’s a potential chance for you to get involved with future research activities.

“Commercially available GPS units for digital SLR cameras have become popular and relatively inexpensive, and it is easy and very useful for photographers to record the accurate time and position in photographic files,” said Kataoka. “I am thinking of developing a website with a submission system to collect many interesting photographs from night-sky photographers over the world via the Internet.”

Read the entire paper in Annales Geophysicae.

Source: European Geophysical Union

Elizabeth Howell

Elizabeth Howell is the senior writer at Universe Today. She also works for Space.com, Space Exploration Network, the NASA Lunar Science Institute, NASA Astrobiology Magazine and LiveScience, among others. Career highlights include watching three shuttle launches, and going on a two-week simulated Mars expedition in rural Utah. You can follow her on Twitter @howellspace or contact her at her website.

Recent Posts

DART Changed the Shape of Asteroid Dimorphos, not Just its Orbit

On September 26th, 2022, NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) collided with the asteroid Dimorphos,…

6 hours ago

Cosmochemistry: Why study it? What can it teach us about finding life beyond Earth?

Universe Today has had some fantastic discussions with researchers on the importance of studying impact…

6 hours ago

Webb Finds Deep Space Alcohol and Chemicals in Newly Forming Planetary

Since its launch in 2021, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has made some amazing…

8 hours ago

Mercury is the Perfect Destination for a Solar Sail

Solar sails rely upon pressure exerted by sunlight on large surfaces. Get the sail closer…

9 hours ago

Phew, De-Icing Euclid’s Instruments Worked. It’s Seeing Better Now

From its vantage point at the Sun-Earth L2 point, the ESA's Euclid spacecraft is measuring…

12 hours ago

New View Reveals Magnetic Fields Around Our Galaxy’s Giant Black Hole

Fresh imagery from the Event Horizon Telescope traces the lines of powerful magnetic fields spiraling…

12 hours ago