Aurora Borealis in HD

Stian Grande, who is working for EISCAT in Tromso, has made a nice high dynamic range high resolution time-lapse video of aurora in the last few years. You can also see the EISCAT radars and the Japanese NIPR LIDAR in the video.

KAIRA command centre

We have re-organised the KAIRA team and facilities at Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory to improve the way we operate the system. We now have office-space in the EISCAT building at Tähtelä, near the 32m dish, where some of the staff can work. This also serves at the store for some of the components, spares, and computing equipment for the project.

The EISCAT building at Tähtelä. This is where the new "KAIRA
command centre" is now located. (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

This is a great place to work, with good facilities and a quiet working environment with lovely surroundings. It is also close to the other parts of the institutes within Tähtelä.

Tähteläntie

Just a nice photograph to finish the weekend. This is the "main road" that runs through Tähtelä. At this time of year, there is still snow around and plenty of sunshine. The forest always is so beautiful at this time of year.

Tähteläntie (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

We hope you had a nice weekend!

Polaria

Just a nice photograph to finish the week. This one is of the sign at the entrance to the main building, called "Polaria". It is located near the southern end of Tähtelä and is shared by Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory and the Finnish Meteorological Institute.

Polaria... home to SGO and FMI. (Photo: D. McKay-Bukwoski)

Have a nice weekend!

Tähtelä

Occasionally you will see this place mentioned — Tähtelä.

Tähtelä is where the main Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory is located. It is also the location of a Finnish Meteorological Institute station. Tähtelä is small place with a handful of buildings belonging to the two institutes, a main shared centre (called "Polaria") and various houses, other small buildings and research equipment. It is not really a campus, but it is not really a village either. It is just a special place.

The visitor information sign for Tähtelä. (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

Tähtelä is located about 6 km south of the town of Sodankylä itself on the eastern shore of the Kitinen River.

The name Tähtelä itself means "Place of the stars". Although it is true that the institutes here are not primarily astronomical facilities, we do in fact occasionally observe astronomical objects (such as radio stars, pulsars or our own sun). And certainly some of the staff are trained astronomers who sometimes carry out astronomical research.


Note that there is another Tähtelä. It is a small railway stop, just north of Ingå in the south of Finland (LINK).

Sping at last

We're now well into spring! The equinox has passed and the days seem "normal" length at the moment and are brightening rapidly. There is still lots of snow on the ground, which makes the place look lovely and very, very bright!

Administration buildings at the northern end of Tähtelä.

However, there is still reasonable nights which makes aurora-spotting still feasible.

EWASS 2013

The European Week of Astronomy and Space Science (EWASS) will be held on 8 - 13 July 2013 in Logomo Centre in Turku, Finland. Turku is the oldest university town and the former capital of Finland.

Turku is also well-known for its location in the beautiful archipelago. The time of the meeting, early July, is usually a pleasant season in Southwest Finland with plenty of sunshine and about 20 hours of daylight. Turku, with its seven hills and the river Aurajoki, has a lively cultural life with several museums and art galleries, and it was elected one of the cultural capital cities of Europe for the year 2011. We look forward to seeing you in Turku in July 2013!

The deadline for abstract submission is 30th April 2013.

The website is: http://www.astro.utu.fi/EWASS2013/