Photometric quality of Dome C for the winter 2008 from ASTEP South

• Main Authors: Crouzet, Nicolas, Guillot, Tristan, Agabi, Karim, Fanteï-Caujolle, Yan, Fressin, Francois, Rivet, Jean-Pierre, Bondoux, Erick, Challita, Zalpha, Abe, Lyu, Blazit, Alain, Bonhomme, Serge, Daban, Jean-Baptiste, Gouvret, Carole, Mékarnia, Djamel, Schmider, François-Xavier, Valbousquet, Franck
• Other Authors: Laboratoire de Cosmologie, Astrophysique Stellaire & Solaire, de Planétologie et de Mécanique des Fluides (CASSIOPEE), Université Nice Sophia Antipolis (1965 - 2019) (UNS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur, Université Côte d'Azur (UniCA)-Université Côte d'Azur (UniCA)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire Hippolyte Fizeau (FIZEAU), Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), Harvard University-Smithsonian Institution, Station Concordia, IPEV, Optique et Vision, Secteur privé, ASTEP (Antarctic Search for Transiting ExoPlanets), ANR-06-BLAN-0043,A STEP,A STEP: an Antarctic Search for Transiting Extrasolar Planets(2006)
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2009
• Subjects: [SDU.ASTR.IM]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysic [astro-ph.IM]; [PHYS.ASTR.IM]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysic [astro-ph.IM]; Antarctic; Concordia Station; South Pole; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctica; South pole
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-00456513; https://hal.science/hal-00456513/document; https://hal.science/hal-00456513/file/Crouzet_C.pdf

International audience ASTEP South is an Antarctic Search for Transiting Exo- Planets in the South pole field, from the Concordia station, Dome C, Antarctica. The instrument consists of a thermalized 10 cm refractor observing a fixed 3.88° x 3.88° field of view to perform photometry of several thousand stars at visible wavelengths (700-900 nm). The first winter campaign in 2008 led to the retrieval of nearly 1600 hours of data. We derive the fraction of photometric nights by measuring the number of detectable stars in the field. The method is sensitive to the presence of small cirrus clouds which are invisible to the naked eye. The fraction of night-time for which at least 50% of the stars are detected is 74% from June to September 2008. Most of the lost time (18.5% out of 26%) is due to periods of bad weather conditions lasting for a few days ("white outs"). Extended periods of clear weather exist. For example, between July 10 and August 10, 2008, the total fraction of time (day+night) for which photometric observations were possible was 60%. This confirms the very high quality of Dome C for nearly continuous photometric observations during the Antarctic winter.