The first Digital All-Sky Camera (DASC) in Kiruna

Operated 2001-12-11 until 2009-09-15

An all-sky camera has been operating in Kiruna since the International Geophysical Year in 1957 (Stoffregen, 1962). In 1977 the camera was replaced with a new more automated type (Hypönen et al. 1974). This camera was in operation until 2004, however a replacement is strongly needed since the data storage medium is 16 mm colour film, which is expensive and difficult to handle. The advanced new Finnish all-sky cameras (Syrjäsuo, 2001) are based on intensified CCD:s with filter-wheels and narrow band interference filers like ALIS. The new digital all-sky camera in Kiruna is based on a commercial digital camera with replaceable optics.

The camera (Fuji FinePix S2Pro) is equipped with a Nikon Nikkor 8 mm 1:2.8 giving almost 180 degrees field-of-view. The photo to the right shows the prototype camera. The camera is mounted inside a small dome. In the fall of 2009 it was replaced by a Nikon D700

Picture of the new ASC
Fuji FinePix S2Pro with a Nikon Nikkor 8 mm 1:2.8
Sample auroral image
2001-03-19 19:10 UTC.

The camera is controlled by a camera control computer and the image data is transferred to an archiving computer, where it is made available to the world-wide web. The data is archived on DvD-R disks.

Data archive

Format of the filenames

xKRNYYYYmmddTHHMMSSEnnnnnQ.JPG
KRN
Kiruna, exposure time calculated from solar zenith angle.
LKRN
Kiruna, long exposure.
SKRN
Kiruna, short exposure.
YYYY
Year.
mm
Month 01-12 for January to December.
dd
Day of month 01-31.
HH
Hours 00-23
MM
Minutes 00-59
SS
Seconds 00-59
E
Exposure time follows
nnnnn
milliseconds
Q
Quicklook
.JPG
Jpeg file

Sample images, two hours from 2001-12-12

Links to sample images for the time interval 2001-12-12 21:00-22:59 UTC (quicklooks) 21:40-22:29 UTC (full resolution images) A nice auroral event starts 2001-12-12 at around 21:48 UTC.

All images are freely available for non-commercial non-profit usage. Please contact Urban Brändström before using the data in scientific publications or in other published works.

Project team

  • Urban Brändström
  • Mats Luspa: mats.luspa@{NO\SPAM}@irf.se
  • Arne Moström: arne.mostrom@{NO\SPAM}@irf.se
  • Ulf Stenmark: ulf.stenmark@{NO\SPAM}@irf.se

Please remove @{NO\SPAM} in the email-addresses above before using them.

For further information, comments and questions please contact: Urban Brändström

Created by Peje Nilsson at

Last modified by Peje Nilsson at