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Longevity is a Virtue

On 22 February 1989, the Akebono satellite was launched with the primary purpose of studying the auroral phenomena. After 19 years, amazingly, seven out of the nine instruments are still operating, and daily producing important scientific data of charged particles and electromagnetic waves around the Earth.

This figure is a part of the aurora movie taken by the Aurora TV (ATV) instrument on 17 November 1989 (click the figure to see the movie). Unfortunately, the ATV quit operation in 1990, but beautiful aurora movies taken by ATV in 1989 and early 1990 are archived in DARTS, as well as individual frames.

Today, Akebono's unique orbit and performances are expected to give new insights of the aurora study, through simultaneous observations with recently launched aurora observing satellites such as Reimei and THEMIS. They say "longevity is a virtue".

February 2008