Coordinated Auroral Photography from Earth and Space (AuroraMax)
Research Area: Earth Remote Sensing
Expedition(s): 29 and 30
Principal Investigator(s): ● Ruth Ann Chicoine, Canadian Space Agency, St Hubert,
Québec, Canada
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
For Coordinated Aurora Photography from Earth and Space (AuroraMAX), crew members
photograph the aurora borealis from the International Space Station (ISS). The photography
may be timed with periods of increased solar activity to increase the chances of photographing
auroras. This is a public outreach initiative designed to inspire the public to learn more about
solar-terrestrial science and how solar activity affects Earth.
EARTH BENEFITS
The benefit is to enhance public awareness of the science of the aurora.
RESULTS
The AuroraMAX program promoted public interest in science and produced highly valuable
science data. It was a public outreach and education initiative with the mission of bringing real-
time auroral images to the public from a camera located outside Yellowknife, Canada.
AuroraMAX used a digital All-Sky Imager (ASI) that collected full-color images of the night sky
every 6 seconds and transmitted them via satellite Internet to the Canadian Space Agency (CSA)
AuroraMAX Web server where they were made instantly available to the public. AuroraMAX
was a highly successful outreach program with hundreds of thousands of distinct visitors to the
website, thousands of followers on social media, and hundreds of newspaper, magazine, radio,
and television spots.
AuroraMAX will eventually include real-time, high-resolution, single-lens reflex (SLR) auroral
images taken from the ground as well as from the ISS where astronauts will take pictures of the
aurora with a handheld SLR. AuroraMAX was one of nearly 40 All-Sky Imagers operating across
The Aurora Borealis as photographed from Earth. Canadian Space Agency image.