Seeing environment at a 5640m altitude of Co. Chajnantor in northern Chile

Kentaro Motohara; Tsutomu Aoki; Shigeyuki Sako; Takao Soyano; Mamoru Doi; Masuo Tanaka; Toshihiko Tanabe; Toshihiro Handa; Natsuko Mitani; Takeo Minezaki; Takashi Miyata; Kimiaki Kawara; Kotaro Kohno; Ken'ichi Tarusawa; Yuzuru Yoshii; Leonard Bronfman; Maria Teresa Ruiz; Fumihiro Uraguchi; Naruhisa Takato

doi:10.1117/12.788498

10 July 2008 Seeing environment at a 5640m altitude of Co. Chajnantor in northern Chile

Kentaro Motohara, Tsutomu Aoki, Shigeyuki Sako, Takao Soyano, Mamoru Doi, Masuo Tanaka, Toshihiko Tanabe, Toshihiro Handa, Natsuko Mitani, Takeo Minezaki, Takashi Miyata, Kimiaki Kawara, Kotaro Kohno, Ken'ichi Tarusawa, Yuzuru Yoshii, Leonard Bronfman, Maria Teresa Ruiz, Fumihiro Uraguchi, Naruhisa Takato

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 7012, Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes II; 701244 (2008) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.788498
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2008, Marseille, France

Abstract

We have carried out a campaign to monitor seeing at a 5640m altitude on the summit of Co. Chajnantor at Atacama, for the 6.5m telescope TAO project planned by the University of Tokyo. The seeing conditions were measured at 0.5μm using a DIMM (Differential Image Motion Monitor) during 8 nights in November 2006 and April 2007. In April, the measurement was done on a 2m-tower to suppress effect of ground-layer turbulence. The best night showed median seeing of 0.38, while the total median seeing is 0.69. This is comparable or even better than most of the major observatories. Together with the high transparency in infrared wavelength owing to the extremely high altitude of 5640m and its accessibility, the summit of Co. Chajnantor is one of the best site for infrared astronomy on the Earth.

Citation Download Citation

Kentaro Motohara, Tsutomu Aoki, Shigeyuki Sako, Takao Soyano, Mamoru Doi, Masuo Tanaka, Toshihiko Tanabe, Toshihiro Handa, Natsuko Mitani, Takeo Minezaki, Takashi Miyata, Kimiaki Kawara, Kotaro Kohno, Ken'ichi Tarusawa, Yuzuru Yoshii, Leonard Bronfman, Maria Teresa Ruiz, Fumihiro Uraguchi, and Naruhisa Takato "Seeing environment at a 5640m altitude of Co. Chajnantor in northern Chile", Proc. SPIE 7012, Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes II, 701244 (10 July 2008); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.788498

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