A study of atmospheric extinction by stellar photometry in the Vilnius system

Pakštienė, E.; Zdanavicius, K.; Bartasiute, S.

doi:10.1515/astro-2001-0309

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…Another rise during the spring of 2003 (beginning approximately on night 50) might be evident in SkyProbe data; a third possibly in spring 2004 (night 450). Seasonal variation in the concentration of aerosols has been seen at other observatories, notably in central Europe (Reimann, Ossenkopf, & Beyersdorfer 1992;Pakstiene 2001). There the variation is thought to be the effect of higher summer temperatures raising smoke and soot into the upper atmosphere, combined with greater absolute humidity.…”

Section: Analysis and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Mauna Kea Sky Transparency from CFHT SkyProbe Data1

Steinbring¹,

Cuillandre²,

Magnier³

2009

PUBL ASTRON SOC PAC

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Nighttime sky transparency statistics on Mauna Kea are reported based on data from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope SkyProbe monitor. We focus on the period beginning with the start of MegaCam wide-field optical imager operations in 2003, and continuing for almost three years. Skies were clear enough to observe on 76% of those nights; attenuations were less than 0.2 magnitudes up to 60% of the time. An empirical model of cloud attenuation and duration is presented allowing us to further characterize the photometric conditions. This is a good fit to the SkyProbe data, and indicates that Mauna Kea skies are truly photometric (without cloud) an average of 56% of the time, with moderate seasonal variation. Continuous monitoring of transparency during the night is necessary to overcome fluctuations in attenuation due to thin cloud.

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Section: Analysis and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Mauna Kea Sky Transparency from CFHT SkyProbe Data1

Steinbring¹,

Cuillandre²,

Magnier³

2009

PUBL ASTRON SOC PAC

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“…The unifying property of these constituents is their size, ranging from 0.1 microns up to 10 microns, placing them in the size range of Mie scattering. Normally the optical depth of these are modeled with a λ -α scattering law 15,16,17 where α depends on the size distribution and refractive index of the particulate. Aerosol absorption is also not easily modeled.…”

Section: Atmospheric Constituentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Space-based photometric precision from ground-based telescopes

et al. 2010

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Ground-based telescopes supported by lidar and spectrophotometric auxiliary instrumentation can attain space-based precision for all-sky photometry, with uncertainties dominated by fundamental photon counting statistics. Earth's atmosphere is a wavelength-, directionally-and time-dependent turbid refractive element for every ground-based telescope, and is the primary factor limiting photometric measurement precision. To correct accurately for the transmission of the atmosphere requires direct measurements of the wavelength-dependent transmission in the direction and at the time that the supported photometric telescope is acquiring its data. While considerable resources have been devoted to correcting the effects of the atmosphere on angular resolution, the effects on precision photometry have largely been ignored.We describe the facility-class lidar that observes the stable stratosphere, and a spectrophotometer that observes NIST absolutely calibrated standard stars, the combination of which enables fundamentally statistically limited photometric precision. This inexpensive and replicable instrument suite provides the lidar-determined monochromatic absolute transmission of Earth's atmosphere at visible and near-infrared wavelengths to 0.25% per airmass and the wavelengthdependent transparency to less than 1% uncertainty per minute. The atmospheric data are merged to create a metadata stream that allows throughput corrections from data acquired at the time of the scientific observations to be applied to broadband and spectrophotometric scientific data. This new technique replaces the classical use of nightly mean atmospheric extinction coefficients, which invoke a stationary and plane-parallel atmosphere. We demonstrate application of this instrument suite to stellar photometry, and discuss the enhanced value of routinely provably precise photometry obtained with existing and future ground-based telescopes.

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“…One such example is the apparent dependence (Pakstiene (2001), Reimann et al (1992), Roosen & Angione (1977)) of extinction on absolute humidity, even in bluer spectral regions that are well away from H 2 O line absorption, allegedly due to water absorption by aerosols changing their sizes and hence their scattering properties. The dependence of extinction on meteorology, and over time, has been explored by Reimann et al (1992), Frogel (1998) and Pakstiene (2001). Table 3 shows a summary of weather statistics for a 4 year period at CTIO.…”

Section: Bandmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward More Precise Survey Photometry for PanSTARRS and LSST: Measuring Directly the Optical Transmission Spectrum of the Atmosphere

Stubbs

High

George

et al. 2007

PUBL ASTRON SOC PAC

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Motivated by the recognition that variation in the optical transmission of the atmosphere is probably the main limitation to the precision of ground-based CCD measurements of celestial fluxes, we review the physical processes that attenuate the passage of light through the Earth's atmosphere. The next generation of astronomical surveys, such as PanSTARRS and LSST, will greatly benefit from dedicated apparatus to obtain atmospheric transmission data that can be associated with each survey image. We review and compare various approaches to this measurement problem, including photometry, spectroscopy, and LIDAR. In conjunction with careful measurements of instrumental throughput, atmospheric

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A study of atmospheric extinction by stellar photometry in the Vilnius system

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

Mauna Kea Sky Transparency from CFHT SkyProbe Data1

Mauna Kea Sky Transparency from CFHT SkyProbe Data1

Space-based photometric precision from ground-based telescopes

Toward More Precise Survey Photometry for PanSTARRS and LSST: Measuring Directly the Optical Transmission Spectrum of the Atmosphere

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