Gattini: a multisite campaign for the measurement of sky brightness in Antarctica

Moore, Anna; Allen, G.; Aristidi, Éric; Ashley, M. C. B.; Bedding, Timothy R.; Beichman, C. A.; Briguglio, Runa; Busso, M.; Candidi, M.; Ciardi, David R.; Cui, Xiangqun; Cutispoto, G.; Distefano, E.; Espy, P. J.; Everett, Jon R.; Li, Feng; Hu, Jingyao; Jiang, Zhaoji; Kenyon, S.; Kulesa, Craig; Lawrence, Jon; Roux, Brice Le; Leslie, T.; Li, Yuangshen; Luong-Van, D.; Phillips, A.; Qin, Weijian; Ragazzoni, Roberto; Riddle, Reed; Sabbatini, L.; Salinari, Piero; Saunders, Will; Shang, Zhaohui; Stello, Dennis; Storey, J. W. V.; Sun, Bo; Suntzeff, N.; Taylor, M.; Tosti, G.; Tothill, N.; Travouillon, Tony; Belle, Gerard van; Braun, Kaspar von; Wang, Lifan; Yan, Jun; Yang, Huigen; Yuan, Xiangyan; Zhu, Zhenxi; Zhou, Xu

doi:10.1117/12.789783

Cited by 15 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…The Gattini project was created to unambiguously measure the optical sky brightness within an incredibly large ´ 90 90 FOV, as well as the cloud coverage and aurora of the winter-time sky above such a high-altitude Antarctic site. The Gattini-Dome A All-Sky Camera (GASC; Moore et al 2008) was installed on the PLATO (PLATeau Observatory) instrument module, which is an automated self-powered astrophysical observatory deployed to Dome A (Yang et al 2009) as part of the Chinese-led expedition to the highest point on the Antarctic plateau in 2008 January. This single automated wide-field camera contains a suite of Bessell photometric filters (B, V, R) and a longpass red filter for the detection and monitoring of OH emission.…”

Section: Project Goalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optical Sky Brightness and Transparency during the Winter Season at Dome A Antarctica from the Gattini-All-Sky Camera

Yang

Moore

Krisciunas

et al. 2017

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The summit of the Antarctic plateau, Dome A, is proving to be an excellent site for optical, near-infrared, and terahertz astronomical observations. Gattini is a wide-field camera installed on the PLATO instrument module as part of the Chinese-led traverse to Dome A in 2009 January. We present here the measurements of sky brightness with the Gattini ultra-large field of view ( ´ 90 90 ) in the photometric B-, V-, and R-bands; cloud cover statistics measured during the 2009 winter season; and an estimate of the sky transparency. A cumulative probability distribution indicates that the darkest 10% of the nights at Dome A have sky brightness of S B =22.98, S V =21.86, and S R =21.68 mag arcsec −2 . These values were obtained during the year 2009 with minimum aurora, and they are comparable to the faintest sky brightness at Maunakea and the best sites of northern Chile. Since every filter includes strong auroral lines that effectively contaminate the sky brightness measurements, for instruments working around the auroral lines, either with custom filters or with high spectral resolution instruments, these values could be easily obtained on a more routine basis. In addition, we present example light curves for bright targets to emphasize the unprecedented observational window function available from this ground-based site. These light curves will be published in a future paper.

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Section: Project Goalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optical Sky Brightness and Transparency during the Winter Season at Dome A Antarctica from the Gattini-All-Sky Camera

Yang

Moore

Krisciunas

et al. 2017

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“…Dome C station (75°06′S, 123°21′E, 3233 m a. m. s. l.) on the Antarctic Plateau presents exceptionally good atmospheric conditions for radiometric validation activities applied to infrared satellite sensors, such as the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) [ Walden et al , 2006], and for investigating the local climate [ Wendler and Kodama , 1984] and the dependence of ground‐level short‐wave and long‐wave radiation measurements on atmospheric temperature and moisture conditions [ Orsini et al , 2002; Town et al , 2005; Lanconelli et al , 2009]. In this context, local radiosonde measurements provide useful data for examining sets of in situ measurements taken with ground‐based solar, optical and infrared radiometers [ Walden et al , 1997, 1998, 2005; Orsini et al , 2000; Kenyon and Storey , 2006; Moore et al , 2008], as well as measurements of outgoing short‐ and long‐wave radiance fluxes derived from satellite observations [ Yamanouchi and Kawaguchi , 1984; Yamanouchi and Charlok , 1995; Gettelman et al , 2006; Town et al , 2007].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of a 4 year radiosonde data set at Dome C for characterizing temperature and moisture conditions of the Antarctic atmosphere

Tomasi¹,

Petkov²,

Benedetti³

et al. 2011

J. Geophys. Res.

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[1] A 4 year set of vertical profiles of pressure, temperature and relative humidity derived from 1113 radiosounding measurements performed at Dome C (Antarctica) at 12:00 UTC of each day, from late March 2005 to March 2009, were analyzed using an updated procedure for removing the most important temperature and humidity errors and dry biases. The monthly mean vertical profiles of pressure, temperature, and moisture parameters were determined, providing evidence of the strong seasonal variations in temperature occurring within the ground layer and in the tropopause region. The results are presented for use in the analysis of the ground-based measurements of both short-and long-wave radiation budget terms routinely performed at this site, and to better investigate the water vapor role in the Antarctic Plateau surface-atmosphere system. The evaluation of atmospheric water vapor content W (precipitable water) is of great relevance for astronomical studies, to verify that high atmospheric transmission conditions exist, especially in the submillimeter and millimeter range, for the exceptionally dry air characteristics of the Dome C atmosphere. The monthly mean data sets of moisture parameters were analyzed to determine the monthly mean vertical profiles of absolute humidity, and to evaluate the daily values of W, varying from less than 0.30 mm (from June to October) to more than 0.60 mm in January, on average. The monthly mean percentiles of W indicate that this parameter is expected to be lower than 0.20 mm on at least 25% of days from May to October, indicating that very high atmospheric transparency conditions should occur in the infrared-millimeter spectral range on at least 40 days during austral autumn and winter.Citation: Tomasi, C., B. Petkov, E. Benedetti, L. Valenziano, and V. Vitale (2011), Analysis of a 4 year radiosonde data set at Dome C for characterizing temperature and moisture conditions of the Antarctic atmosphere,

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“…In subsequent years, the Chinese summer traverse team has continued to service and upgrade the PLATO observatory and instrumentation. Presently there is no capability for year-round occupation at Dome A and the need for continuous scientific data 4,5,6,7 , including in the middle of winter, justifies the requirement of a fully robotic, autonomous observatory.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance of the autonomous PLATO Antarctic Observatory over two full years

et al. 2010

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For continuous observation at locations that are inhospitable for humans, the desirability of autonomous observatories is self evident. PLATO, the 'PLATeau Observatory' was designed to host an easily configurable instrument suite in the extremely cold conditions on the Antarctic plateau, and can provide up to 1 kW of power for the instruments. Powered by jet fuel and the Sun, PLATO and its instruments have been taking nearly uninterrupted astronomical science and sitetesting data at Dome A, the coldest, highest and driest location 1 on the Antarctic Plateau, since their deployment by the 24th Chinese expedition team in January 2008. At the time of writing, PLATO has delivered a total uptime of 730 days. Following a servicing mission by the 25th Chinese expedition team in 2008-9, PLATO has achieved 100% up-time (520 days) and has been in continuous contact with the rest of the world via its Iridium satellite modems. This paper discusses the performance of the observatory itself, assesses the sources of energy and dissects how the energy is divided between the core observatory functions of instrument power, heating, control and communication.

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Gattini: a multisite campaign for the measurement of sky brightness in Antarctica

Cited by 15 publications

References 3 publications

Optical Sky Brightness and Transparency during the Winter Season at Dome A Antarctica from the Gattini-All-Sky Camera

Optical Sky Brightness and Transparency during the Winter Season at Dome A Antarctica from the Gattini-All-Sky Camera

Analysis of a 4 year radiosonde data set at Dome C for characterizing temperature and moisture conditions of the Antarctic atmosphere

Performance of the autonomous PLATO Antarctic Observatory over two full years

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