Plate Nº 62 · recorded October 9, 2026
Space & AstronomyReported finding
Smile Mission Delivers First Ultraviolet Footage of Earth's Full Aurora Ring
Smile, an ESA–Chinese Academy of Sciences mission, released first-of-its-kind ultraviolet footage of the full auroral ring on September 30, 2026 — the first such view since 2008.
By Marcus Bennett3 min read567 words
In brief
- Smile released its first aurora footage on September 30, 2026.
- It is the first spacecraft since 2008 to capture the complete auroral ring in ultraviolet light.
- The footage covers 00:00–00:58 UTC on July 24, 2026, during mission commissioning.
- Smile can observe Earth continuously for a record 45 hours at a stretch.
- The mission's soft X-ray imager is capturing too much stray light; teams are adjusting its settings.
On September 30, 2026, the Smile mission released its first aurora footage — and the spacecraft is the first since 2008 to capture the complete auroral ring around Earth's North Pole in ultraviolet light.
The video shows the full oval of northern lights circling the pole, with stars drifting behind Earth. Watch closely and the ring ripples and brightens. That behavior marks a substorm: a sudden release of energy stored in Earth's magnetosphere, the protective magnetic bubble that shields our planet from the solar wind.
The footage covers 00:00 to 00:58 UTC on July 24, 2026, while Smile was still in its commissioning phase in orbit.
What is the Smile mission?
Smile is a joint project between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Its central question is simple: how does the solar wind — the constant stream of charged particles from the Sun — interact with Earth's magnetosphere?
To answer it, the spacecraft carries four instruments for observing Sun-Earth interactions:
- a magnetometer, which measures magnetic fields;
- a light ion analyzer, which studies charged particles;
- an ultraviolet imager, which produced the new aurora footage;
- a soft X-ray imager, which is still being tuned.
One capability sets Smile apart. It can watch Earth continuously for a record 45 hours at a stretch, far longer than previous aurora-observing spacecraft.
ESA states the ultimate goal plainly. The agency says Smile aims to:
… improve our understanding of solar storms, geomagnetic storms and the science of space weather.
Why does the ultraviolet ring matter?
Auroras are usually photographed in visible light from the ground, but ultraviolet imaging lets Smile see the entire auroral oval at once, regardless of sunlight or cloud cover. That complete view is what no spacecraft has delivered in UV since 2008.
The full-ring perspective gives scientists a way to watch substorms develop from start to finish. As ESA describes the released footage, the ring ripples and brightens over time — a direct visual record of energy released from the magnetosphere and dumped into the upper atmosphere near the pole.
What about the X-ray camera?
Not everything is working perfectly yet. During testing, scientists found that the soft X-ray imager was capturing too much stray light, degrading its images. Teams are now updating the camera's settings to fix the problem.
Once the stray light is under control, researchers have two main targets:
- the magnetopause, the boundary region where the solar wind meets Earth's magnetic field;
- the northern polar cusp, a gap near the North Pole where charged solar wind particles funnel down toward Earth's surface.
Both are key regions where solar wind energy enters the magnetosphere, so X-ray images of them would complement the ultraviolet aurora views.
How certain are these early results?
Some caution is warranted. The aurora footage was recorded during commissioning — the testing phase before routine science operations — so the mission's formal scientific campaign is only beginning. The X-ray issue also means one of the four instruments is not yet producing usable science data, although engineers expect to resolve it.
Still, the first release already demonstrates Smile's headline capability: continuous, whole-ring ultraviolet monitoring of the northern lights. As the mission moves into full operation, its long observing windows and four-instrument suite should let researchers trace space weather events from the magnetopause down to the aurora itself.
via esa.int (Original)
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