An aerosol distribution determining system and method are provided. The system includes a set of light emitters for emitting electromagnetic radiation. The system additionally includes a set of black disks for absorbing a portion of the electromagnetic radiation emitted from the set of light emitters. The system further includes a hyperspectral imaging camera for capturing hyperspectral images of the electromagnetic radiation in an absence of and in a presence of an aerosol distribution. The system also includes a data processing system for determining at least one of a size, a vertical density distribution, and a shape of particles in the aerosol distribution based information derived using the hyperspectral images.