Nighttime Extinction measurements from Fairbanks
using STAR: First Results
by
Debi-Lee Wilkinson
Cygnus Innovations & Scientific Research
and
Geophysical Institute
ABSTRACT
STAR--Surveyor Telescope for Atmospheric Research was used February and March 2000 to image stars at various wavelengths in order to observe atmospheric changes. These results will be presented. Atmospheric information can be obtained from stellar images under the assumption that changes in the star brightness are due to changes in the atmospheric absorption of the starlight. This technique appears to work fairly well and indicates a range of atmospheric absorption of a factor of two over what I observed as clear sky conditions. This will mostly be a repeat of what I gave last May to the Atmospheric Science Informal Seminar which many people missed. I will begin at a basic level and define the concepts of atmospheric extinction and other basic principles used in this work.