Physics – Optics
Scientific paper
Nov 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009mnras.399.2129w&link_type=abstract
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 399, Issue 4, pp. 2129-2138.
Physics
Optics
4
Atmospheric Effects, Instrumentation: Adaptive Optics, Site Testing, Telescopes
Scientific paper
An instrument for monitoring of the vertical profile of atmospheric optical turbulence strength, employing the Slope Detection and Ranging (SLODAR) double star technique applied to a small telescope, has been developed by Durham University and the European South Observatory. The system has been deployed at the Cerro Paranal observatory in Chile for statistical characterization of the site. The instrument is configured to sample the turbulence at altitudes below 1.5 km with a vertical resolution of approximately 170 m. The system also functions as a general-purpose seeing monitor, measuring the integrated optical turbulence strength for the whole atmosphere, and hence the seeing width. We give technical details of the prototype and present data to characterize its performance. Comparisons with contemporaneous measurements from a differential image motion monitor (DIMM) and a multi-aperture scintillation sensor (MASS) are discussed. Statistical results for the optical turbulence profile at the Paranal site are presented. We find that, in the median case, 49 per cent of the total optical turbulence strength is associated with the surface layer (below 100 m), 35 per cent with the `free atmosphere' (above 1500 m) and 16 per cent with the intermediate altitudes (100-1500 m).
Butterley Tim
Sarazin Marc
Wilson Richard W.
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