Related papers: Dome C site testing: surface layer, free atmospher…

PILOT (the Pathfinder for an International Large Optical Telescope) is a proposed 2.5 m optical/infrared telescope to be located at Dome C on the Antarctic plateau. The atmospheric conditions at Dome C deliver a high sensitivity, high…

The results on the vertical distribution of optical turbulence above the five mountains which were investigated by the site testing for the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) are reported. On San Pedro Martir in Mexico, the 13 North site on Mauna…

ASTEP South is the first phase of the ASTEP project (Antarctic Search for Transiting ExoPlanets). The instrument is a fixed 10 cm refractor with a 4kx4k CCD camera in a thermalized box, pointing continuously a 3.88 degree x 3.88 degree…

The Diffuse Microwave Emission Survey (DIMES) has been selected for a mission concept study for NASA's New Mission Concepts for Astrophysics program. DIMES will measure the frequency spectrum of the cosmic microwave background and diffuse…

At an altitude of 3250m and at a latitude of $75^\circ$S, the Italo-French Concordia station was open to winter-over teams in 2005. It is one of the high points of the Antarctic polar plateau. These extreme remote sites are expected to…

Knowledge of the Earth's atmospheric optical turbulence is critical for astronomical instrumentation. Not only does it enable performance verification and optimisation of existing systems but it is required for the design of future…

The results obtained using the temperature monitoring systems of the 6-m BTA telescope primary mirror, dome space, and external environment are reported. We consider the factors that affect the development of microturbulence in the…

We present measurements of optical turbulence (OT) power inside the telescope dome using an instrument registering fluctuations of intensity of a bright star at a plane conjugated to -2 km below the pupil of the telescope - Domecam. The…

We present Cryoscope--a new 50 deg$^2$ field-of-view, 1.2 m aperture, $K_{dark}$ survey telescope to be located at Dome C, Antarctica. Cryoscope has an innovative optical-thermal design wherein the entire telescope is cryogenically cooled.…

Dome A in Antarctica has many characteristics that make it an excellent site for astronomical observations, from the optical to the terahertz. Quantitative site testing is still needed to confirm the site's properties. In this paper, we…

We characterize the ability of the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) to perform relative astrometry across its 500~Mpix, 3 deg^2 science field of view, and across 4 years of operation. This is done using internal comparisons of ~4x10^7…

Astronomical seeing is quantified by a single parameter, turbulence integral, in the framework of the Kolmogorov turbulence model. This parameter can be routinely measured by a Differential Image Motion Monitor, DIMM. A new instrument,…

Submillimetre/TeraHertz (e.g. 200, 350, 450 microns) astronomy is the prime technique to unveil the birth and early evolution of a broad range of astrophysical objects. A major obstacle to carry out submm observations from ground is the…

Instabilities and turbulence extending to the smallest dynamical scales play important roles in the deposition of energy and momentum by gravity waves throughout the atmosphere. However, these dynamics and their effects have been impossible…

The possibility to observe transiting exoplanets from Dome C in Antarctica provides immense benefits: stable weather conditions, limited atmospheric turbulence, and a night that lasts almost three months due to the austral winter. However,…

The Shack-Hartman wavefront sensor designed for final acceptance of 2.5m SAI telescope allows to measure the shape of the wavefront on exit pupil of the telescope using a bright star. The reference laser source on wavelength 532 nm is used…

Solar magnetic fields evolve on many time-scales, e.g., the generation, migration, and dissipation of magnetic flux during the 22-year magnetic cycle of the Sun. Active regions develop and decay over periods of weeks. The build-up of…

Image degradation impedes our ability to extract information from astronomical observations. One factor contributing to this degradation is ``dome seeing", the reduction in image quality due to variations in the index of refraction within…

The cycling of carbon between its ionized, atomic, and molecular phases shapes the chemical compositions and physical conditions of the interstellar medium (ISM). However, ground-based studies of the full carbon cycle have been limited by…

In the present work, recent characterization results of the 4K$\times$4K CCD Imager (a first light instrument of the 3.6m Devasthal Optical Telescope; DOT) and photometric calibrations are discussed, along with measurements of the…