KAIRA -- lyhytdokumentti

Last week we published a film on KAIRA. Today, we have the film again, but with Finnish text/subtitles.

KAIRA on Kilpisjärvelle rakennettu ilmakehän, lähiavaruuden ja syvän avaruuden tutkimukseen tarkoitettu radioteleskooppi. Sen on rakentanut ja sitä operoi Oulun yliopiston Sodankylän geofysiikan observatorion. KAIRA-lyhenne tulee englanninkielisisestä projektinimestä Kilpisjärvi Atmospheric Imaging Receiver Array.

KAIRA-vastaanottimessa on kaksi antennikenttää, joista matalampitaajuinen niin sanottu LBA-kenttä mittaa taajuusalueella 10-90 MHz ja korkeampitaajuinen HBA-kenttä alueella 110-270 MHz. KAIRA voi toimia osana eurooppalaista sirontatutkajärjestelmää EISCATia. Norjan Tromssassa sijaitsee 224 MHz:n VHF-lähetin, jonka ionosfääristä sironnutta signaalia voidaan vastaanottaa Kilpisjärvellä. Lähitulevaisuudessa tulemme rakentamaan osana kansainvälistä yhteistyötä uuden hajautetun sirontatutkajärjestelmän Kalotin alueelle. Tämä projekti kulkee nimellä EISCAT_3D. Siinä tarvittavaa tekniikkaa kehitetään KAIRA-asemalla!

KAIRAn antennikentät on alunperin suunniteltu LOFAR-nimiseen radioastromiaprojektiin. Voimmekin käyttää radioastronomiaan suunniteltuja antenneja ja signaalinkäsittelyä hyvin suoraan ilmakehän ja lähiavaruuden tutkimukseen. Luonnollisesti teemme yhteistyötä useiden LOFAR-asemien kanssa eri radioastronomiaprojektien kanssa.

Tämä lyhytdokumentti kertoo KAIRAn rakentamisesta, asemalla tehtävästä tutkimuksesta ja EISCAT_3D-projektin pitkän tähtäimen näkymistä. KAIRA-aseman rakentamisen on rahoittanut Oulun yliopisto, Euroopan aluekehitysrahasto Lapin liiton kautta ja Sodankylän kunta.

KAIRA film

At the LOFAR Science Workshop 2014 in Amsterdam, we premièred the KAIRA film. This was produced by SiteEye in conjunction with Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory, U. Oulu, ASTRON, EISCAT, and many others. (Versions with subtitles in many languages will be posted later.)




Enjoy!

UPDATE!
The film is also available with Finnish subtitles (LINK). 

Film editing

This week two of the SGO staff were in the United Kingdom to sit in on part of the final edit of the KAIRA film. As we have mentioned before, we're producing a film about KAIRA, its construction and its science. The main production team is from a company called Site-Eye. They specialise in construction site filming, time-lapse and other specialist filming work. They have been excellent and we've been really happy with the work they've done for us.

During our visit to their film-production offices we went through the KAIRA film and tweaked some sequences and cut/extended some scenes to get the balance just right. Site-Eye are now working on the sound engineering and sub-titles, and we hope to have it ready for public release very soon now.

Alex from Site-Eye working on the KAIRA film. (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

Have a nice weekend, everyone!

KAIRA 3D film shown at SGO Open Day

Today, as part of the Observatory's 100 year anniversary, there is an open day at Tähtelä. One of the features of the day, will be a chance to see the KAIRA film in 3D in the conference room at SGO.

The open day runs from 10:00 - 16:00 (Finnish time) on Saturday 14 September 2013.

KAIRA... the 3D-movie

One of the things that we did during the construction of KAIRA was take timelapse photography of the building of the HBA. This was a non-trival task, trying to find a good cantage point, showing the site, but still able to cope with rain, sun and the host of lighting levels to go with it.

Furthermore, the film was shot completely in 3D.

Just one frame...  (Image: B. McClave)

The work was coordinated by time-lapse professional, Brian McClave with his own team and Thomas Ulich from SGO. Brian works for Site-Eye, a company that specialises in such productions. The filming was made with the support not just of SGO and University of Oulu, but also ASTRON / LOFAR and EISCAT.

Thomas Ulich (left) and Brian McClave. (Photo: C-F Enell)

The product was a 2-minute time-lapse, which was enhanced with additional stills and footage from other scenes, as well as interviews, to give a 10-minute mini-documentary about KAIRA. As mentioned earlier, we showed the première of this film at the KAIRA opening, and the 2-minute version featured during the KAIRA presentation at the Nordic Physics Days 2013 conference in Lund, Sweden.

Watching the first public showing. (Photo: J. Keskitalo)

We will continue to feature it at conferences and exhibitions, but the plan is to make some further enhancements and publish the result to various web sites.

Watch this web log for announcements!