Observation of the June 22, 2015 G4 storm by HiT&MiS: an Echelle Spectrograph for Auroral and Airglow Studies

Abstract:

Observation of the June 22, 2015 G4 storm by HiT&MiS: an Echelle Spectrograph for Auroral and Airglow Studies

Saurav Aryal¹ , Kuravi Hewawasam¹, Ryan Maguire¹, Supriya Chakrabarti¹, Timothy Cook¹, Jason Martel¹ and Jeffrey L Baumgardner², (1) University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA, United States, (2)Boston University, Boston, MA, United States

A High-Throughput and Multi-slit Imaging Spectrograph (HiT&MIS) has been developed by our group. The spectrograph uses an echelle grating that operates at high dispersion orders (28-43) such that extended sources for airglow and auroral emissions can be observed at high resolution (about 0.02 nm). By using four slits (instead of the conventional one slit setup), with the appropriate foreoptics it images extended emissions along a long field of view of about 0.1° × 50°. It observes spectral regions around six prominent atmospheric emission lines (HI 656.3 nm, HI 486.1 nm, OI 557.7 nm, OI 630.0 nm, OI 777.4 nm and N⁺₂ 427.8 nm) using order sorting interference filters at the entrance slits and a filter mosaic on an image plane.

We present observations from the instrument during the June 22, 2015 G4 storm. OI 557.7 nm (green line) and OI 630.0 nm (red line) showed strong brightness enhancements that lasted throughout the night from 8 P.M June 22, 2015 to 3 AM June 23,2015 when compared to the same times after the storm had passed.