Open AccessCampaign of sky brightness and extinction measurements using a portable CCD camera
Author(s) -
Falchi Fabio
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.058
H-Index - 383
eISSN - 1365-2966
pISSN - 0035-8711
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2010.17845.x
Subject(s) - sky , sky brightness , brightness , zenith , physics , remote sensing , light pollution , night sky , southern hemisphere , extinction (optical mineralogy) , northern hemisphere , astronomy , environmental science , optics , geography
In this paper, we present the results of a 12‐yr campaign devoted to monitoring the sky brightness affected by different levels of light pollution. Different sites characterized by different altitudes and atmospheric transparency have been considered. The standard photometric Johnson B and V bands were used. An extinction measurement was performed for each site and each night, along with a calibration of the instrument. These measurements have allowed us to build sky brightness maps of the hemisphere above each observing site; each map contains up to 200 data points spread around the sky. We have found a stop in zenith sky brightness growth at the two sites where a time series exists. Using zenith sky brightness measurements taken with and without extensive snow coverage, we weighted the importance of direct versus indirect flux in producing sky glow at several sites.