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...
Published in: | Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific |
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Online Access: | https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/publications/d0476898-9d46-4980-bbae-4d7a26ceb156 https://doi.org/10.1086/666861 http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84863318924&partnerID=8YFLogxK |
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ftmacquarieunicr:oai:https://researchers.mq.edu.au:publications/d0476898-9d46-4980-bbae-4d7a26ceb156 2024-06-23T07:47:45+00:00 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 https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/publications/d0476898-9d46-4980-bbae-4d7a26ceb156 https://doi.org/10.1086/666861 http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84863318924&partnerID=8YFLogxK eng eng info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess Sims , G , Ashley , M C B , Cui , X , Everett , J R , Feng , L , Gong , X , Hengst , S , Hu , Z , Lawrence , J S , Luong-Van , D M , Moore , A M , Riddle , R , Shang , Z , Storey , J W V , Tothill , N , Travouillon , T , Wang , L , Yang , H , Yang , J , Zhou , X & Zhu , Z 2012 , ' Airglow and Aurorae at Dome A, Antarctica ' , Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific , vol. 124 , no. 916 , pp. 637-649 . https://doi.org/10.1086/666861 article 2012 ftmacquarieunicr https://doi.org/10.1086/666861 2024-06-05T23:47:47Z 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 BV R photometric bands. On average, twilight ends when the Sun reaches a zenith distance of 102.6°. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Macquarie University Research Portal Antarctic Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 124 916 637 649 |
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Open Polar |
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Macquarie University Research Portal |
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ftmacquarieunicr |
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 BV R 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 |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/publications/d0476898-9d46-4980-bbae-4d7a26ceb156 https://doi.org/10.1086/666861 http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84863318924&partnerID=8YFLogxK |
geographic |
Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica |
op_source |
Sims , G , Ashley , M C B , Cui , X , Everett , J R , Feng , L , Gong , X , Hengst , S , Hu , Z , Lawrence , J S , Luong-Van , D M , Moore , A M , Riddle , R , Shang , Z , Storey , J W V , Tothill , N , Travouillon , T , Wang , L , Yang , H , Yang , J , Zhou , X & Zhu , Z 2012 , ' Airglow and Aurorae at Dome A, Antarctica ' , Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific , vol. 124 , no. 916 , pp. 637-649 . https://doi.org/10.1086/666861 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1086/666861 |
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Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific |
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124 |
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916 |
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637 |
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649 |
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