AURORA GALLERY 5
Acquired at 23:40:56 UT on 26 November, 1996, this image shows the bright glow of the discrete
auroral oval sweeping across the image from the left side of the field-of-view to the top. The
nighttime limb of the earth is seen at the bottom of the image. Clouds and snow cover on the
surface of the Earth illuminated by the waning full moon are seen as low intensity regions at
lower latitudes in the image. This is one of the first images of the nighttime sector of the
visible northern auroral oval obtained with the Low Resolution Sensor of the Visible Imaging
System (VIS). This image was acquired with the filter that has peak transmission at the atomic
oxygen emission line wavelength of 557.7 nm and is displayed in a false color presentation with
dark red for low intensities through brilliant yellow for high intensities.
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For comparison, this image is the global view of Earth obtained at ultraviolet wavelengths with
the VIS Earth Camera. This image was obtained at 23:42:21 UT on 26 November, 1996 (i.e.
within 2 minutes of the visible image). The VIS Earth Camera is predominantly sensitive to the
atomic oxygen emissions at 130.4 nm and 135.6 nm. In this image the complete northern auroral
oval can be seen on the nightside of Earth. The sunlit dayside of Earth can be seen as the higher
intensity crescent to the upper left.
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