Related papers: Mesoscale Optical Turbulence simulations at Dome C

The cold, dry and stable air above the summits of the Antarctic plateau provides the best ground-based observing conditions from optical to sub-mm wavelengths to be found on the Earth. PILOT is a proposed 2 m telescope, to be built at Dome…

With the prospect of the next generation of ground-based telescopes, the extremely large telescopes (ELTs), increasingly complex and demanding adaptive optics (AO) systems are needed. This is to compensate for image distortion caused by…

The mesosphere of Venus is a critical range of altitudes in which complex temperature variability has been extensively studied by the space mission Venus Express (Vex) during its eight-years mission (2006-2014). Data collected at different…

For extremely large telescopes, adaptive optics will be required to correct the Earth's turbulent atmosphere. The performance of tomographic adaptive optics is strongly dependent on the vertical distribution (profile) of this turbulence. An…

Measurements of the optical turbulence profile above Siding Spring Observatory were conducted during 2005 and 2006. This effort was largely motivated by the need to predict the statistical performance of adaptive optics at Siding Spring.…

Forecasting optical turbulence in the Earth's atmosphere has been an ambitious challenge for the astronomical scientific community for several decades. While earlier research primarily focused on whether it was possible to predict optical…

We present a reanalysis of visible/near-infrared (480-930 nm) observations of Neptune, made in 2018 with the MUSE instrument at the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Narrow Field Adaptive Optics mode, reported by Irwin et al., Icarus, 311,…

We present a radiative transfer analysis of latitudinally resolved H (1.487-1.783 micron) and K (2.028-2.364 micron) band spectra of Uranus, from which we infer the distributions of aerosols and methane in the planet's atmosphere. Data were…

We present results from the first year of a campaign to characterize and monitor the optical turbulence profile at the SAAO Sutherland observing station in South Africa. A MASS-DIMM (MultiAperture Scintillation Sensor - Differential Image…

Results of 2005-2007 campaign of measurement of the optical turbulence vertical distribution above Mt. Maidanak are presented. Measurements are performed with the MASS (Multi-Aperture Scintillation Sensor) device which is widely used in…

Atmospheric transmission from Dome A, Antarctica, presents new possibilities in the field of terahertz astronomy, where space telescopes have been the only observational tools until now. Using atmospheric transmission measurements from Dome…

The accuracy of ground-based astronomical photometry is limited by two factors: photon statistics and stellar scintillation arising when star light passes through Earth's atmosphere. This paper examines the theoretical role of the outer…

The recent discovery of exceptional seeing conditions at Dome C, Antarctica, raises the possibility of constructing an optical observatory there with unique capabilities. However, little is known from an astronomer's perspective about the…

Current projects for large telescopes demand a proper knowledge of atmospheric turbulence to design efficient adaptive optics systems in order to reach large Strehl ratios. However, the proper characterization of the turbulence above a…

In this contribution we evaluate the impact of filtering techniques in enhancing the accuracy of forecasts of optical turbulence and atmospheric parameters critical for ground-based telescopes. These techniques make use of the data…

Optical turbulence affects significantly the quality of ground-based astronomical observations. An accurate and reliable forecast of optical turbulence can help to optimise the scheduling of the science observations and to improve both the…

Antarctica provides a unique environment for astronomy. The cold, dry and stable air found above the high plateau, as well as the pure ice below, offers new opportunities across the photon & particle spectrum. The summits of the plateau…

In this paper we present the characterization of all the principal meteorological parameters (wind speed and direction, pressure, absolute and potential temperature) extended over 25 km from the ground and over two years (2003 and 2004)…

Atmospheric turbulence characterization is crucial for technologies like free-space optical communications. Existing methods using a spatially-integrated one-dimensional (1D) orbital angular momentum (OAM) spectrum, P(m), obscure the…

Using an observational derived model optical turbulence profile (model-OTP) we have investigated the performance of Adaptive Optics (AO) at Siding Spring Observatory (SSO), Australia. The simulations cover the performance for AO techniques…