THE ALL-SKY CAMERA REVITALIZED

An all-sky camera, a ground imager used since the 1950's in the aeronomy and space physics studies, was refurbished with a modern control, digitization, and archiving system. Monochromatic and broadband digital images of airglow and aurora are continuously integrated and recorded by the low-cost unmanned system, which is located in northern Canada. Radiometric corrections applied to the data include noise subtraction, normalization to a flat-field response, and absolute calibration. The images are geometrically corrected with star positions and projected onto a geographic or geomagnetic coordinate system. An illustration of the application of corrected all-sky camera images to the study of auroral spirals is given.