Physics of auroral phenomena : proceedings of the 34th Annual seminar, Apatity, 01 - 04 March, 2011 / [ed.: A. G. Yahnin, A. A. Mochalov]. - Апатиты : Издательство Кольского научного центра РАН, 2011. - 231 с. : ил.

В. V. Kozelov et al. Table 1. Characteristics of the auroral cameras. # Camera Interface Lens FoV Position Data resolution Operation time 1 Watec LCL- 902 Analog video with frame grabber Fujinon YV2.2xl.4A- SA2 180° 67.34°N, 33.18°E 232x232, 16 bits, 1 s (24 integrated frames) Dec 28, 2010 - Apr 14, 2011 2 AVT Guppy F-044B NIR IEEE 1394a Fujinon HF25HA-1B, glass filter -558 nm 15° 67.34°N, 33.18°E 376x288 pix, 8 bits, 1 s Dec 28, 2010- Apr 14,2011 3 AVT Guppy F-044B NIR IEEE 1394a Fujinon HF25HA-1B, glass filter ~558 nm 15° 67.34°N, 33.24°E 376x288 pix, 8 bits, 1 s Oct 20, 2010- Apr 14, 2011 4 AVT Guppy F-044C NIR IEEE 1394a Fujinon DF6HA-1B 60° 67.34°N, 33.24°E 376x290 pix, 4 colors (CMY+G), 8 bits, 1 s Oct 20, 2010 - Apr 14, 2011 The narrow field of view cameras were mounted on industrial pan-tilt motorized mounts to fit direction of observation. All cameras were directed to a region near the magnetic zenith. The distance between the points of observation is 3850 m, so the identical monochromatic cameras can be used as a stereoscopic system. All cameras, data storage computers and motorized mounts are remotely accessible and operated through INTERNET. A special module was developed for precise time synchronization: for triggering of the image capture by cameras, for time synchronization of the data storage computers, and also for collection of information from temperature sensors in housing boxes and for operation by the mounts’ motors. The module based on industrial Lassen SK II GPS Module (see more details here: http://www.prin.ru/equipment/gps modules') completed by original microcontroller. The schema of the synchronization module is shown in Fig.2. The modules were installed in both points of observations to avoid possible interruptions in Wi-Fi connection between them. The estimated precision of the time synchronization for simultaneous images is better than a few milliseconds, that is a good precision for auroral observations. One more camera (#5) was manually operated during good weather conditions. This camera was the same as number 4 in Table 1, but located at position 67.33°N, 33.25°E and usually directed in the Nord. The intervals of observations are available here: http://sites.google.com/ site/auroraobservations/. 3. Results of observations The data storage from cameras #1-4 was provided by original Linux-based programs. Real time images from the cameras were available on-line at web-site http://db.pgia.ru/cam/. The images were stored at the hard disks and prepared for web-archive. Automatically generated web-archive for each camera contains of monthly overviews, daily and hourly keograms, and individual images in JPG format with 10-s resolution. Original uncompressed frames are available by request. Unfortunately due to weather conditions and low solar activity during 2010-2011 winter there were a few days of aurora observation near zenith in Apatity. One of them was a day of magnetic storm on February 4. Fig. 3 presents an example of auroral structures observed simultaneously by the camera set during this event. On-line journal o f the hardware modifications is placed at web-site http://sites.google.com/site/ auroraobservations/. The same site contains the keograms from North-directed color camera (#5), where the aurora activity were observed more often, practically during all nights with good enough weather conditions. Conclusions A new optical system for routine observations of auroral structures has been installed in Apatity. The observation system gives information about auroral structures in 3 different fields of view: all-sky (180°), 60° and 15°. Two spatially separated identical cameras gives us possibility to use its images as a stereoscopic pair and extract information about the auroral structure in the plain perpendicular to the magnetic field lines. The web-preview archive is accessible for selection of events. The data analysis and observations will be continued in next winter season. Acknowledgements. This work was partly supported by the program Plasma processes in the solar system” of Division of Physical Sciences of RAS. 130