Thermal infrared sky background for a High-Arctic mountain observatory
Nighttime zenith sky spectral brightness in the 3.3–20 μm wavelength region is reported for an observatory site nearby Eureka on Ellesmere Island in the Canadian High Arctic. Measurements are derived from an automated Fourier-transform spectrograph that operated there continuously over three consecu...
Published in: | Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific |
---|---|
Main Author: | |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
IOP Publishing
2016
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1538-3873/129/971/015003 https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/eng/view/object/?id=5598921a-4113-4c62-9f0e-5cb8ccbade81 https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/fra/voir/objet/?id=5598921a-4113-4c62-9f0e-5cb8ccbade81 |
id |
ftnrccanada:oai:cisti-icist.nrc-cnrc.ca:cistinparc:23003403 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftnrccanada:oai:cisti-icist.nrc-cnrc.ca:cistinparc:23003403 2023-05-15T14:57:08+02:00 Thermal infrared sky background for a High-Arctic mountain observatory Steinbring, Eric 2016-11-30 text https://doi.org/10.1088/1538-3873/129/971/015003 https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/eng/view/object/?id=5598921a-4113-4c62-9f0e-5cb8ccbade81 https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/fra/voir/objet/?id=5598921a-4113-4c62-9f0e-5cb8ccbade81 eng eng IOP Publishing issn:0004-6280 issn:1538-3873 Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Volume: 129, Issue: 971, Publication date: 2016-11-30 doi:10.1088/1538-3873/129/971/015003 site testing article 2016 ftnrccanada https://doi.org/10.1088/1538-3873/129/971/015003 2021-09-01T06:17:01Z Nighttime zenith sky spectral brightness in the 3.3–20 μm wavelength region is reported for an observatory site nearby Eureka on Ellesmere Island in the Canadian High Arctic. Measurements are derived from an automated Fourier-transform spectrograph that operated there continuously over three consecutive winters. During that time, the median through the most transparent portion of the Q window was 460 Jy arcsec^-2, falling below 32 Jy arcsec^-2 in the N band, and to sub-Jansky levels by M and shortward, reaching only 36 mJy arcsec^-2 within L. Nearly six decades of twice-daily balloonsonde launches from Eureka, together with contemporaneous meteorological data plus a simple model, allows characterization of background stability and extrapolation into K band. This suggests that the study location has dark skies across the whole thermal infrared spectrum, typically sub-200 μJy arcsec^-2 at 2.4 μm. That background is comparable to South Pole and more than an order of magnitude less than estimates for the best temperate astronomical sites, all at much higher elevation. Considerations relevant to future facilities, including for polar transient surveys, are discussed. Peer reviewed: Yes NRC publication: Yes Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Ellesmere Island South pole National Research Council Canada: NRC Publications Archive Arctic Ellesmere Island Eureka ENVELOPE(-85.940,-85.940,79.990,79.990) South Pole Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 129 971 015003 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
National Research Council Canada: NRC Publications Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftnrccanada |
language |
English |
topic |
site testing |
spellingShingle |
site testing Steinbring, Eric Thermal infrared sky background for a High-Arctic mountain observatory |
topic_facet |
site testing |
description |
Nighttime zenith sky spectral brightness in the 3.3–20 μm wavelength region is reported for an observatory site nearby Eureka on Ellesmere Island in the Canadian High Arctic. Measurements are derived from an automated Fourier-transform spectrograph that operated there continuously over three consecutive winters. During that time, the median through the most transparent portion of the Q window was 460 Jy arcsec^-2, falling below 32 Jy arcsec^-2 in the N band, and to sub-Jansky levels by M and shortward, reaching only 36 mJy arcsec^-2 within L. Nearly six decades of twice-daily balloonsonde launches from Eureka, together with contemporaneous meteorological data plus a simple model, allows characterization of background stability and extrapolation into K band. This suggests that the study location has dark skies across the whole thermal infrared spectrum, typically sub-200 μJy arcsec^-2 at 2.4 μm. That background is comparable to South Pole and more than an order of magnitude less than estimates for the best temperate astronomical sites, all at much higher elevation. Considerations relevant to future facilities, including for polar transient surveys, are discussed. Peer reviewed: Yes NRC publication: Yes |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Steinbring, Eric |
author_facet |
Steinbring, Eric |
author_sort |
Steinbring, Eric |
title |
Thermal infrared sky background for a High-Arctic mountain observatory |
title_short |
Thermal infrared sky background for a High-Arctic mountain observatory |
title_full |
Thermal infrared sky background for a High-Arctic mountain observatory |
title_fullStr |
Thermal infrared sky background for a High-Arctic mountain observatory |
title_full_unstemmed |
Thermal infrared sky background for a High-Arctic mountain observatory |
title_sort |
thermal infrared sky background for a high-arctic mountain observatory |
publisher |
IOP Publishing |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1538-3873/129/971/015003 https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/eng/view/object/?id=5598921a-4113-4c62-9f0e-5cb8ccbade81 https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/fra/voir/objet/?id=5598921a-4113-4c62-9f0e-5cb8ccbade81 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-85.940,-85.940,79.990,79.990) |
geographic |
Arctic Ellesmere Island Eureka South Pole |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Ellesmere Island Eureka South Pole |
genre |
Arctic Ellesmere Island South pole |
genre_facet |
Arctic Ellesmere Island South pole |
op_relation |
issn:0004-6280 issn:1538-3873 Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Volume: 129, Issue: 971, Publication date: 2016-11-30 doi:10.1088/1538-3873/129/971/015003 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1538-3873/129/971/015003 |
container_title |
Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific |
container_volume |
129 |
container_issue |
971 |
container_start_page |
015003 |
_version_ |
1766329225574350848 |