Aerosol measurements with the FRAM Telescope

0479348 - FZÚ 2018 RIV FR eng C - Conference Paper (international conference)
Ebr, Jan - Blažek, Jiří - Prouza, Michael - Mandát, Dušan - Pech, M. - Mašek, Martin - Juryšek, Jakub - Janeček, Petr - Kubánek, Petr - Eliášek, J. - Jelínek, Martin - Ebrová, I.
Aerosol measurements with the FRAM Telescope.
EPJ Web of Conferences. Vol. 144. Les Ulis: EDP Sciences, 2017 - (Trávníček, P.; Prouza, M.; Gaug, M.; Keilhauer, B.), s. 1-9, č. článku 01011. ISSN 2100-014X.
[International Workshop on ATmospheric MOnitoring for High Energy Astroparticle Detectors (AtmoHEAD). Olomouc (CZ), 12.09.2016-14.09.2016]
R&D Projects: GA MŠMT LM2015038; GA MŠMT LG15014; GA ČR(CZ) GA14-17501S
Institutional support: RVO:68378271 ; RVO:67985815
Keywords : FRAM telescope * CCD camera * Pierre Auger Observatory * UHECR
OECD category: Particles and field physics; Astronomy (including astrophysics,space science) (ASU-R)

Precision stellar photometry using a telescope equipped with a CCD camera is an obvious way to measure the total aerosol content of the atmosphere as the apparent brightness of every star is affected by scattering. Achieving high precision in the vertical aerosol optical depth (at the level of 0.01) presents a series of interesting challenges. Using 3.5 years of data taken by the FRAM instrument at the Pierre Auger Observatory, we have developed a set of methods and tools to overcome most of these challenges. We use a wide-field camera and measure stars over a large span in airmass to eliminate the need for absolute calibration of the instrument. The main issues for data processing include camera calibration, source identification in curved field, catalog deficiencies, automated aperture photometry in rich fields with lens distortion and corrections for star color.

Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0275332