Colours are cool

So now we know the three main colours of the aurora. But what's the point?

We can use this light to see how strong the aurora is:

MSP stackplot

When this screenshot was taken there was hardly any green aurora (flat line), but you can see a slight bump in the red. This means there is some weak red aurora. This is done by looking at only the three wavelengths that were discussed earlier.

We can use this information to locate interesting parts of the aurora. In combination with other instruments we can also find out how high the aurora is.

Other instruments use this information to study the structures that form in the aurora. Other instruments use changes in the light to see how fast the aurora is moving and how hot it is! There's a lot of information in sky light!

Next: Meridian Scanning Photometer...Whoa