Related papers: Site-testing at Muztagh-ata site II: Seeing statis…
Machine Learning for aviation weather is a growing area of research for providing low-cost alternatives for traditional, expensive weather sensors; however, in the area of atmospheric visibility estimation, publicly available datasets,…
Located at Dome A, the highest point of the Antarctic plateau, the Chinese Kunlun station is considered to be one of the best ground-based photometric sites because of its extremely cold, dry, and stable atmosphere(Saunders et al. 2009). A…
LOFT, the Large Observatory For X-ray Timing, is one of five ESA M3 candidate missions. It will address the Cosmic Vision theme: "Matter under Extreme Conditions". By coupling for the first time a huge collecting area for the detection of…
A new astronomical observatory in southeastern Indonesia is currently under construction. This Timau National Observatory will host a 3.8-metre telescope for optical and near-infrared observations. To support the operation and planning, the…
Having been operational at Kitt Peak for more than a year, the prototype of the Hungarian Automated Telescope (HAT-1) has been used for all-sky variability search of the northern hemisphere. The small autonomous observatory is recording…
We present summer site testing results based on DIMM data obtained at Dome C, Antarctica. These data have been collected on the bright star Canopus during two 3-months summer campaigns in 2003-2004 and 2004-2005. We performed continuous…
Expected to be of the highest survey power telescope in the northern hemisphere, the Wide Field Survey Telescope (WFST) will begin its routine observations of the northern sky since 2023. WFST will produce a lot of scientific data to…
The Large Observatory for X-ray Timing (LOFT) is one of the five candidates that were considered by ESA as an M3 mission (with launch in 2022-2024). It is specifically designed to exploit the diagnostics of very rapid X-ray flux and…
Astronomical sites occupying observing instruments have to be selected according to many factors. Among these factors, geographic location of the site and quality of atmosphere above the site play an important role in the decision process.…
Real-time seeing and outer scale estimation at the location of the focus of a telescope is fundamental for the adaptive optics systems dimensioning and performance prediction, as well as for the operational aspects of instruments. This…
We present 220 GHz (1.36 mm) measurements of zenith optical depth obtained to characterise the Indian Astronomical Observatory, Hanle (Ladakh, India) during the period from late December 1999 to early May 2000 and early October 2000 to…
The Chinese Small Telescope ARray (CSTAR) carried out high-cadence time-series observations of 20.1 square degrees centered on the South Celestial Pole during the 2008, 2009 & 2010 winter seasons from Dome A in Antarctica. 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…
A method to measure the seeing from video made during drift-scan solar transits is proposed. The limb of the Sun is projected over a regular grid evenly spaced. The temporal dispersion of the time intervals among the contacts between solar…
Observing sites at the East-Antarctic plateau are considered to provide exceptional conditions for astronomy. The aim of this work is to assess its potential for detecting transiting extrasolar planets through a comparison and combination…
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 review the present status of liquid mirror telescopes. Interferometric tests of liquid mirrors (the largest one having a diameter of 2.5 meters ) show excellent optical qualities. The basic technology is now sufficiently reliable that it…
The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), the next-generation optical imaging survey sited at Cerro Pachon in Chile, will provide an unprecedented database of astronomical measurements. The LSST design, with an 8.4m (6.7m effective)…
In this paper we quantify the performances of an automated weather forecast system implemented on the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) site at Mt. Graham (Arizona) in forecasting the main atmospheric parameters close to the ground. The…
LOFT (Large Observatory For x-ray Timing) is one of the ESA M3 missions selected within the Cosmic Vision program in 2011 to carry out an assessment phase study and compete for a launch opportunity in 2022-2024. The phase-A studies of all…