Airglow and Aurorae at Dome A, Antarctica

Despite the absence of artificial light pollution at Antarctic plateau sites such as Dome A, other factors such as airglow, aurorae, and extended periods of twilight have the potential to adversely affect optical observations. We present a statistical analysis of the airglow and aurorae at Dome A us...

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Published in:Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
Main Authors: Sims, Geoff, Ashley, Michael C. B., Cui, Xiangqun, Everett, Jon R., Feng, LongLong, Gong, Xuefei, Hengst, Shane, Hu, Zhongwen, Lawrence, Jon S., Luong-van, Daniel M., Moore, Anna M., Riddle, Reed, Shang, Zhaohui, Storey, John W. V., Tothill, Nick, Travouillon, Tony, Wang, Lifan, Yang, Huigen, Yang, Ji, Zhou, Xu, Zhu, Zhenxi
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Astronomical Society of the Pacific 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:https://authors.library.caltech.edu/32834/
https://authors.library.caltech.edu/32834/1/Sims2012p18959Publ_Astron_Soc_Pac.pdf
https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20120801-110509912
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spelling ftcaltechauth:oai:authors.library.caltech.edu:32834 2023-05-15T13:37:29+02:00 Airglow and Aurorae at Dome A, Antarctica Sims, Geoff Ashley, Michael C. B. Cui, Xiangqun Everett, Jon R. Feng, LongLong Gong, Xuefei Hengst, Shane Hu, Zhongwen Lawrence, Jon S. Luong-van, Daniel M. Moore, Anna M. Riddle, Reed Shang, Zhaohui Storey, John W. V. Tothill, Nick Travouillon, Tony Wang, Lifan Yang, Huigen Yang, Ji Zhou, Xu Zhu, Zhenxi 2012-06 application/pdf https://authors.library.caltech.edu/32834/ https://authors.library.caltech.edu/32834/1/Sims2012p18959Publ_Astron_Soc_Pac.pdf https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20120801-110509912 en eng Astronomical Society of the Pacific https://authors.library.caltech.edu/32834/1/Sims2012p18959Publ_Astron_Soc_Pac.pdf Sims, Geoff and Ashley, Michael C. B. and Cui, Xiangqun and Everett, Jon R. and Feng, LongLong and Gong, Xuefei and Hengst, Shane and Hu, Zhongwen and Lawrence, Jon S. and Luong-van, Daniel M. and Moore, Anna M. and Riddle, Reed and Shang, Zhaohui and Storey, John W. V. and Tothill, Nick and Travouillon, Tony and Wang, Lifan and Yang, Huigen and Yang, Ji and Zhou, Xu and Zhu, Zhenxi (2012) Airglow and Aurorae at Dome A, Antarctica. Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 124 (916). pp. 637-649. ISSN 0004-6280. doi:10.1086/666861. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20120801-110509912 <https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20120801-110509912> other Article PeerReviewed 2012 ftcaltechauth https://doi.org/10.1086/666861 2021-11-11T18:50:30Z Despite the absence of artificial light pollution at Antarctic plateau sites such as Dome A, other factors such as airglow, aurorae, and extended periods of twilight have the potential to adversely affect optical observations. We present a statistical analysis of the airglow and aurorae at Dome A using spectroscopic data from Nigel, an optical/near-IR spectrometer operating in the 300–850 nm range. These data complement photometric images from Gattini, a wide-field (90°) CCD camera with B, V, and R filters, allowing the background sky brightness to be disentangled from the various airglow and auroral emission lines. The median auroral contribution to the B, V, and R photometric bands is found to be 22.9, 23.4, and 23.0 mag arcsec^(-2), respectively. Auroral emissions most frequently occur between 10–23 hr local time, when up to 50% of observations are above airglow-level intensities. While infrequent, the strongest emissions detected occurred in the hours just prior to magnetic midnight. We are also able to quantify the amount of annual dark time available as a function of wavelength, as well as in the standard BVR photometric bands. On average, twilight ends when the Sun reaches a zenith distance of 102.6°. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Caltech Authors (California Institute of Technology) Antarctic Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 124 916 637 649
institution Open Polar
collection Caltech Authors (California Institute of Technology)
op_collection_id ftcaltechauth
language English
description Despite the absence of artificial light pollution at Antarctic plateau sites such as Dome A, other factors such as airglow, aurorae, and extended periods of twilight have the potential to adversely affect optical observations. We present a statistical analysis of the airglow and aurorae at Dome A using spectroscopic data from Nigel, an optical/near-IR spectrometer operating in the 300–850 nm range. These data complement photometric images from Gattini, a wide-field (90°) CCD camera with B, V, and R filters, allowing the background sky brightness to be disentangled from the various airglow and auroral emission lines. The median auroral contribution to the B, V, and R photometric bands is found to be 22.9, 23.4, and 23.0 mag arcsec^(-2), respectively. Auroral emissions most frequently occur between 10–23 hr local time, when up to 50% of observations are above airglow-level intensities. While infrequent, the strongest emissions detected occurred in the hours just prior to magnetic midnight. We are also able to quantify the amount of annual dark time available as a function of wavelength, as well as in the standard BVR photometric bands. On average, twilight ends when the Sun reaches a zenith distance of 102.6°.
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Sims, Geoff
Ashley, Michael C. B.
Cui, Xiangqun
Everett, Jon R.
Feng, LongLong
Gong, Xuefei
Hengst, Shane
Hu, Zhongwen
Lawrence, Jon S.
Luong-van, Daniel M.
Moore, Anna M.
Riddle, Reed
Shang, Zhaohui
Storey, John W. V.
Tothill, Nick
Travouillon, Tony
Wang, Lifan
Yang, Huigen
Yang, Ji
Zhou, Xu
Zhu, Zhenxi
spellingShingle Sims, Geoff
Ashley, Michael C. B.
Cui, Xiangqun
Everett, Jon R.
Feng, LongLong
Gong, Xuefei
Hengst, Shane
Hu, Zhongwen
Lawrence, Jon S.
Luong-van, Daniel M.
Moore, Anna M.
Riddle, Reed
Shang, Zhaohui
Storey, John W. V.
Tothill, Nick
Travouillon, Tony
Wang, Lifan
Yang, Huigen
Yang, Ji
Zhou, Xu
Zhu, Zhenxi
Airglow and Aurorae at Dome A, Antarctica
author_facet Sims, Geoff
Ashley, Michael C. B.
Cui, Xiangqun
Everett, Jon R.
Feng, LongLong
Gong, Xuefei
Hengst, Shane
Hu, Zhongwen
Lawrence, Jon S.
Luong-van, Daniel M.
Moore, Anna M.
Riddle, Reed
Shang, Zhaohui
Storey, John W. V.
Tothill, Nick
Travouillon, Tony
Wang, Lifan
Yang, Huigen
Yang, Ji
Zhou, Xu
Zhu, Zhenxi
author_sort Sims, Geoff
title Airglow and Aurorae at Dome A, Antarctica
title_short Airglow and Aurorae at Dome A, Antarctica
title_full Airglow and Aurorae at Dome A, Antarctica
title_fullStr Airglow and Aurorae at Dome A, Antarctica
title_full_unstemmed Airglow and Aurorae at Dome A, Antarctica
title_sort airglow and aurorae at dome a, antarctica
publisher Astronomical Society of the Pacific
publishDate 2012
url https://authors.library.caltech.edu/32834/
https://authors.library.caltech.edu/32834/1/Sims2012p18959Publ_Astron_Soc_Pac.pdf
https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20120801-110509912
geographic Antarctic
geographic_facet Antarctic
genre Antarc*
Antarctic
Antarctica
genre_facet Antarc*
Antarctic
Antarctica
op_relation https://authors.library.caltech.edu/32834/1/Sims2012p18959Publ_Astron_Soc_Pac.pdf
Sims, Geoff and Ashley, Michael C. B. and Cui, Xiangqun and Everett, Jon R. and Feng, LongLong and Gong, Xuefei and Hengst, Shane and Hu, Zhongwen and Lawrence, Jon S. and Luong-van, Daniel M. and Moore, Anna M. and Riddle, Reed and Shang, Zhaohui and Storey, John W. V. and Tothill, Nick and Travouillon, Tony and Wang, Lifan and Yang, Huigen and Yang, Ji and Zhou, Xu and Zhu, Zhenxi (2012) Airglow and Aurorae at Dome A, Antarctica. Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 124 (916). pp. 637-649. ISSN 0004-6280. doi:10.1086/666861. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20120801-110509912 <https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20120801-110509912>
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