The Aurora Color Television Project uses a uniquely sensitive video camera capable of accurately representing the vivid, shifting colors and dynamic motion of spectacular auroral displays. To give you some idea of just how sensitive the camera is: typical film cameras use film with a sensitivity of ASA 25 to 1000. The ultralow-light-level camera used for this project has an equivalent sensitivity of ASA 2,000,000!
This sensitive camera is a scientific tool, designed for gathering
observational data, but it also gathers auroral scenes of stunning beauty. The
scientists of the Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, who
collected and analyzed these observations, have collaborated with professional
television producers and technicians to make the wonders of Alaska's winter
skies available to everyone. Only on their video tapes can you see the aurora,
as it really moves, in its full true speed.
This page last updated Friday, August 30, 2002 at 09:24 PM by Ed Hoch.