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-- 20" Telescope at McDonald Observatory |
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During the two weeks surrounding each new Moon we employ six all-sky optical instruments to monitor airglow activity. Two of these instruments are located in South America, and four are stationed in New England along a meridional chain extending from Maine to Rhode Island.
These instruments (essentially electronic cameras) are designed by Jeffrey Baumgardner and built at Boston University's Scientific Instrument Facility using, in part, off-the-shelf camera lenses and highly sensitive detectors. We use 6 narrowband interference filters with our imagers and a 600 lines/mm grating with our spectrographs to observe several wavelengths allowing us to measure a variety of atmospheric phenomena, including diffuse aurora, SAR Arcs, mesospheric gravity waves, and airglow depletions. |
All-sky imager schematic |
New England sites |
South American sites |
