Paper: astro-ph/0506354
Date: Wed, 15 Jun 2005 19:35:57 GMT (504kb)

Title: All-sky Relative Opacity Mapping Using Night Time Panoramic Images

Authors: Lior Shamir, Roberj J. Nemiroff
Comments: Accepted for publication in PASP
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An all-sky cloud monitoring system that generates relative opacity maps over
many of the world's premier astronomical observatories is described.
Photometric measurements of numerous background stars are combined with
simultaneous sky brightness measurements to differentiate thin clouds from sky
glow sources such as air glow and zodiacal light. The system takes a continuous
pipeline of all-sky images, and compares them to canonical images taken on
other nights at the same sidereal time. Data interpolation then yields
transmission maps covering almost the entire sky. An implementation of this
system is currently operating through the Night Sky Live network of CONCAM3s
located at Cerro Pachon (Chile), Mauna Kea (Hawaii), Haleakala (Hawaii), SALT
(South Africa) and the Canary Islands (Northwestern Africa).

\\ ( http://arXiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0506354 , 504kb)