Inuksuit: robotic astronomical site-testing stations in the Canadian High Arctic.
Coastal mountains at Canada's northern tip possess many of the desirable properties that make the Antarctic glacial plateau attractive for astronomy: they are cold, high, dry, and in continuous darkness for several months in winter. Satellite images suggest that they should also benefit from cl...
Published in: | SPIE Proceedings, Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes II |
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/2429/37466 https://doi.org/10.1117/12.789531 |
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ftunivbritcolcir:oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/37466 2023-05-15T13:54:57+02:00 Inuksuit: robotic astronomical site-testing stations in the Canadian High Arctic. Hickson, Paul 2008 http://hdl.handle.net/2429/37466 https://doi.org/10.1117/12.789531 eng eng Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Hickson, Paul CC-BY-NC-ND Text Conference Paper 2008 ftunivbritcolcir https://doi.org/10.1117/12.789531 2019-10-15T18:06:01Z Coastal mountains at Canada's northern tip possess many of the desirable properties that make the Antarctic glacial plateau attractive for astronomy: they are cold, high, dry, and in continuous darkness for several months in winter. Satellite images suggest that they should also benefit from clear skies for a fraction of time comparable to the best mid-latitude sites, and conventional site-selection criteria point to good seeing. In order to confirm these conditions, we are testing three mountain sites on northwestern Ellesmere Island, in Nunavut. On each we have installed a compact, autonomous site-testing station consisting of a meteorological station, a simple optical/near-infrared camera for sensing cloud cover, and - at one site - a more advanced all-sky viewing camera. The systems were deployed by helicopter and run on batteries recharged by wind (a compact methanol fuel cell is under study as a supplementary power source). Effective two-way communications via the Iridium satellite network allows a limited number of highly compressed images to be transferred. The full-winter dataset is stored at the site on flash-drives, thus requiring a return visit to retrieve, but day-to-day station performance can be assessed using telemetry and a computer model. Based on site-testing results, the plan is to select one site for the addition of a seeing monitor and a small but scientifically productive telescope. Copyright 2008 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers. One print or electronic copy may be made for personal use only. Systematic reproduction and distribution, duplication of any material in this paper for a fee or for commercial purposes, or modification of the content of the paper are prohibited. Science, Faculty of Physics and Astronomy, Department of Reviewed Faculty Conference Object Antarc* Antarctic Arctic Ellesmere Island Nunavut University of British Columbia: cIRcle - UBC's Information Repository Antarctic Arctic Ellesmere Island Nunavut The Antarctic SPIE Proceedings, Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes II 7012 70121V |
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University of British Columbia: cIRcle - UBC's Information Repository |
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ftunivbritcolcir |
language |
English |
description |
Coastal mountains at Canada's northern tip possess many of the desirable properties that make the Antarctic glacial plateau attractive for astronomy: they are cold, high, dry, and in continuous darkness for several months in winter. Satellite images suggest that they should also benefit from clear skies for a fraction of time comparable to the best mid-latitude sites, and conventional site-selection criteria point to good seeing. In order to confirm these conditions, we are testing three mountain sites on northwestern Ellesmere Island, in Nunavut. On each we have installed a compact, autonomous site-testing station consisting of a meteorological station, a simple optical/near-infrared camera for sensing cloud cover, and - at one site - a more advanced all-sky viewing camera. The systems were deployed by helicopter and run on batteries recharged by wind (a compact methanol fuel cell is under study as a supplementary power source). Effective two-way communications via the Iridium satellite network allows a limited number of highly compressed images to be transferred. The full-winter dataset is stored at the site on flash-drives, thus requiring a return visit to retrieve, but day-to-day station performance can be assessed using telemetry and a computer model. Based on site-testing results, the plan is to select one site for the addition of a seeing monitor and a small but scientifically productive telescope. Copyright 2008 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers. One print or electronic copy may be made for personal use only. Systematic reproduction and distribution, duplication of any material in this paper for a fee or for commercial purposes, or modification of the content of the paper are prohibited. Science, Faculty of Physics and Astronomy, Department of Reviewed Faculty |
format |
Conference Object |
author |
Hickson, Paul |
spellingShingle |
Hickson, Paul Inuksuit: robotic astronomical site-testing stations in the Canadian High Arctic. |
author_facet |
Hickson, Paul |
author_sort |
Hickson, Paul |
title |
Inuksuit: robotic astronomical site-testing stations in the Canadian High Arctic. |
title_short |
Inuksuit: robotic astronomical site-testing stations in the Canadian High Arctic. |
title_full |
Inuksuit: robotic astronomical site-testing stations in the Canadian High Arctic. |
title_fullStr |
Inuksuit: robotic astronomical site-testing stations in the Canadian High Arctic. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Inuksuit: robotic astronomical site-testing stations in the Canadian High Arctic. |
title_sort |
inuksuit: robotic astronomical site-testing stations in the canadian high arctic. |
publisher |
Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) |
publishDate |
2008 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/2429/37466 https://doi.org/10.1117/12.789531 |
geographic |
Antarctic Arctic Ellesmere Island Nunavut The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Arctic Ellesmere Island Nunavut The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Arctic Ellesmere Island Nunavut |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Arctic Ellesmere Island Nunavut |
op_rights |
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Hickson, Paul |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY-NC-ND |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1117/12.789531 |
container_title |
SPIE Proceedings, Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes II |
container_volume |
7012 |
container_start_page |
70121V |
_version_ |
1766261163449909248 |