Low-light sprite cameras to be installed this week

The Danish team will be undertaking an end-to-end test of the OMP-Pic du Midi system tonight and make the final modifications, if needed. The Puy de Dôme system is the same as the one that was used in 2003 (that captured more than 100 sprites) so it should be running soon.

One of the black-and-white images of a sprite captured by the low-light camera on Pic du Midi in August 2003. The large sprites in this image are termed "carrot" sprites, the smaller ones "columniform" sprites.

Olivier Chanrion and the Danes will take the instruments to France by car, starting Thursday morning, so during the weekend they plan to have the OMP-system running and after that the Puy de Dôme-system. During the first week, the software will continue to be modified and streamlined, making the commanding of the systems as easy as possible. Then, it is a matter of having favourable conditions to observe sprites!