Add unique and beautiful aurora videos to your home collection!
[Aurora Video] [Aurora Explained Video] [Downloadable Clips!] [About the Aurora][Ordering Information] [Wholesale Orders] [Licensing Information]
The Aurora Color Television Project uses a uniquely sensitive video camera capable of accurately representing the vivid, shifting colors and dynamic motion of spectacular auroral displays. To give you some idea of just how sensitive the camera is: typical film cameras use film with a sensitivity of ASA 25 to 1000. The ultralow-light-level camera used for this project has an equivalent sensitivity of ASA 2,000,000!
This sensitive camera is a scientific tool, designed for gathering observational data, but it also gathers auroral scenes of stunning beauty. The scientists of the Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, who collected and analyzed these observations, have collaborated with professional television producers and technicians to make the wonders of Alaska's winter skies available to everyone. Only on their video tapes can you see the aurora, as it really moves, in its full true speed.
Aurora (2nd Edition)
Aurora is a 27-minute video tape presentation of the best displays
of the aurora borealis observed during the 1985-1986 winters in Fairbanks,
Alaska. This presentation of the northern lights enables anyone to experience
the stunning color and movement of an auroral display without risking the
frostbite lurking in a subarctic winter night!
The music accompanying the dynamic swirling or the aurora on this videotape
is from the Symphony in Ursa Major, performed by the Fairbanks
Symphony Orchestra under the baton of composer Gordon Wright.
$20 + $4 postage and handling
(see below)
Note that these clips are copyrighted (c) 1985, 1986, and 1992 by Neal Brown,
Tom Hallinan, and Dan Osborne, all rights reserved. If you are interested in
using aurora video in any form in your own projects,
licensing arrangements are available.
Defective videos will be replaced or refunded at the discretion of the
Aurora Color Television Project.
We prefer that you sell the videos at our advertised retail price of $20.
For more information please contact the people listed
below.
We sell images from the Aurora video and a few other special cuts,
such as a rare Great Red Aurora from March 1989. These images have been
licensed for use by the National Geographic, BBC (several titles), Heather
Cooper's Guide to the Universe, CBS's Northern Exposure,
CBS Winter Olympiad TV, The Planet Earth series (PBS), Discovery
Channel (many productions), Beyond 2000, and Castlerock Productions,
to name a few.
Our images sales policy list covers charges from $18 USD/second up to
$72 USD/second, with a minimum sales or kill fee of $600 USD. A complete
sales policy and price list is available on request. Contact:
Daniel L. Osborne
Questions about the aurora videos and licensing may also be directed to
Sheila Finch
(Sheila.Finch@gi.alaska.edu).
The Aurora Explained
The Aurora Explained (30 minutes) tells what northern lights
are, how they work, and why and when they appear where they do. Though
accurate and based on current knowledge, the narration is nontechnical,
suitable for anyone from sixth graders to science graduates. And the aurora
provides its own illustrations, in brilliant scene after scene of stunning
arcs and colorful curtains, vivid folds and ghostly flickers. This is aurora
as it usually can be seen only under the best viewing conditions, in the
frigid chill of subarctic night, but now available for viewing in the warmth
and comfort of homes everywhere.
To enhance your viewing pleasure, music written especially to accompany these
scenes of auroras in action has been provided by Alaskan musician and composer
Yonni Fischer.
$20 + $4 postage and handling
(see below)
Downloadable Clips!
To get some idea of what the aurora looks like on video, check out these
clips:
These digital video clips are greatly reduced in color, spatial, and time
resolution, and their quality will depend on capabilities of your computer.
The video tapes which you can purchase offer much better resolution, accurate
colors, and realistic speed.
To Order Copies...
For information about purchasing copies of these tapes, contact the
Geophysical Institute's GeoData Center at (907) 474-7487, or send e-mail to
Rose Watabe
(Rose.Watabe@gi.alaska.edu).
Current prices are:
Tapes may be ordered by phone using Visa, Discover, or Mastercard; e-mail
credit card orders are not recommended.
All proceeds from the sale of Aurora Color Television Project videotapes
are used to support research and education in geophysics.
Wholesale Video Orders
The Aurora and Aurora Explained videos may be
purchased in quantity:
Payment is expected with order. Telephone orders must include a purchase
order number. Postage/shipping and insurance will be billed separately.
We ship priority mail unless you specify otherwise. If you prefer shipping
by a specific courier, please indicate at the time of ordering.
Licensing Information
In addition to the videos listed above, the Aurora Color Television Project
possesses about 100 hours of top-quality, true speed, true color video
recordings of the aurora. Film images from other sources are elapsed-time
images that are sped up to give the illusion of auroral motion. Only ACTP's
fast frame rate images show the aurora as it truly appears, without the
grain of a fast film; ACTP provides standard broadcast-quality NTSC video.
Geophysical Institute
University of Alaska
Fairbanks AK 99775-7320
Phone: (907) 474-7107
Fax: (907) 474-7290
E-mail: Dan.Osborne@gi.alaska.edu
Updated 19 August 1999 ddr