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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Online Access: | http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/517675 https://doi.org/10.1086/666861 |
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ftunivwestsyd:oai:researchdirect.westernsydney.edu.au:uws_13599 2023-05-15T13:54:14+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. Tothill, Nicholas F. H. (R17058) Travouillon, Tony Wang, Lifan Yang, Huigen Yang, Ji Zhou, Xu School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematics (Host institution) 2012 print 13 http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/517675 https://doi.org/10.1086/666861 eng eng U.S.A., University of Chicago Press Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific--0004-6280--1538-3873 Vol. 124 Issue. 916 pp: 637-649 020199 - Astronomical and Space Sciences not elsewhere classified 970102 - Expanding Knowledge in the Physical Sciences aurorae optical observations airglow Antarctica journal article 2012 ftunivwestsyd https://doi.org/10.1086/666861 2020-12-05T17:18:40Z 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 degrees) 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 degrees. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica University of Western Sydney (UWS): Research Direct Antarctic Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 124 916 637 649 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Western Sydney (UWS): Research Direct |
op_collection_id |
ftunivwestsyd |
language |
English |
topic |
020199 - Astronomical and Space Sciences not elsewhere classified 970102 - Expanding Knowledge in the Physical Sciences aurorae optical observations airglow Antarctica |
spellingShingle |
020199 - Astronomical and Space Sciences not elsewhere classified 970102 - Expanding Knowledge in the Physical Sciences aurorae optical observations airglow 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. Tothill, Nicholas F. H. (R17058) Travouillon, Tony Wang, Lifan Yang, Huigen Yang, Ji Zhou, Xu Airglow and aurorae at Dome A, Antarctica |
topic_facet |
020199 - Astronomical and Space Sciences not elsewhere classified 970102 - Expanding Knowledge in the Physical Sciences aurorae optical observations airglow Antarctica |
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 degrees) 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 degrees. |
author2 |
School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematics (Host institution) |
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. Tothill, Nicholas F. H. (R17058) Travouillon, Tony Wang, Lifan Yang, Huigen Yang, Ji Zhou, Xu |
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. Tothill, Nicholas F. H. (R17058) Travouillon, Tony Wang, Lifan Yang, Huigen Yang, Ji Zhou, Xu |
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 |
U.S.A., University of Chicago Press |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/517675 https://doi.org/10.1086/666861 |
geographic |
Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica |
op_relation |
Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific--0004-6280--1538-3873 Vol. 124 Issue. 916 pp: 637-649 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1086/666861 |
container_title |
Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific |
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124 |
container_issue |
916 |
container_start_page |
637 |
op_container_end_page |
649 |
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1766259932660760576 |