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The European Space Agency released SMILE’s first aurora footage on 30 September 2026. Captured on 24 July during the spacecraft’s in-space commissioning, the ultraviolet images show a rippling ring of northern auroral activity that ESA says is associated with a substorm.
What SMILE’s first aurora footage shows
The clip records ultraviolet emissions from the northern auroral oval, a ring of auroral activity around Earth’s magnetic north pole. ESA interprets the changing, rippling ring as activity associated with a magnetospheric substorm. In ESA’s explanation, solar-wind particles compress Earth’s magnetic field lines, after which energetic particles travel toward the polar regions.
This is an ultraviolet instrument observation from space, not an ordinary-color photograph or a view of what a person would see with the naked eye. The footage was captured from 00:00 to 00:58 Universal Time on 24 July 2026; ESA published it on 30 September 2026. ESA’s release and footage
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How SMILE observes the auroral oval
SMILE’s Ultraviolet Imager (UVI) is designed to image the full northern auroral ring. ESA says UVI can record auroras for up to 45 hours at a time, allowing observations of how auroral activity changes. ESA also describes SMILE as the first spacecraft since 2008 to capture the full ring in ultraviolet light. ESA’s SMILE mission overview
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What the mission is measuring
SMILE stands for Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer. It is a joint mission of the European Space Agency and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, built to investigate how Earth’s magnetosphere responds to the solar wind. Its four instruments observe different parts of that interaction:
| Instrument | What it observes | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Ultraviolet Imager (UVI) | Ultraviolet emissions associated with the aurora | Images the northern auroral oval and its changes |
| Soft X-ray Imager (SXI) | Soft X-rays | Contributes observations of the interaction between the solar wind and Earth’s magnetosphere |
| Magnetometer (MAG) | Magnetic fields | Measures magnetic conditions relevant to that interaction |
| Light Ion Analyser (LIA) | Light ions | Measures particles involved in the solar-wind and magnetosphere environment |
ESA presents the instruments as a combined way to study solar storms, geomagnetic storms, and space weather—not as four versions of the same aurora camera. ESA’s SMILE mission overview
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Footage release and science operations are separate milestones
The public release of the aurora footage and the start of science operations were both reported on 30 September 2026, but they are distinct events. The video was captured during in-space commissioning in July. Separately, the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ National Space Science Center reported that SMILE had passed its in-orbit commissioning review and entered science operations on 30 September. CAS/NSSC announcement
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SMILE launched on 19 May 2026, according to ESA. ESA launch announcement
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