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Effects on Seeing at the Anglo-Australian Telescope of Temperature Differences between Outside Air, Dome Air and Mirror

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 April 2016

P. R. Wood
Affiliation:
Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories, Private Bag, Weston Creek PO, ACT 2611, Australia. wood@mso.anu.edu.au
S. G. Ryan
Affiliation:
Anglo-Australian Observatory, PO Box 296, Epping, NSW 2121, Australia. sgr@aaoepp.aao.gov.au

Abstract

Seeing measured in the open air with a differential image motion monitor (DIMM) is compared with seeing measured simultaneously at the Cassegrain focus of the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT). It is shown that when the mirror is hotter than the dome air, the AAT’s seeing is degraded by ~1 arcsec per Celsius degree of excess mirror temperature. The consequence of this is that mirror seeing currently contributes significantly to the seeing at the AAT on many nights. A mirror colder than the dome air does not seem to degrade seeing, and neither does an internal-to-external air temperature difference of up to at least 3°C when the venting fans are on.

Type
Instruments, Techniques and Basic Measurements
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of Australia 1995

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References

Gillingham, P. G. 1978, AAT Dome Seeing—A Progress Report, Anglo-Australian Observatory Internal ReportGoogle Scholar
Ryan, S. G., & Wood, P. R. 1995, PASA, 12, 89 Google Scholar
Wood, P. R., Rodgers, A. W., & Russell, K. S. 1995, PASA, 12, 97 Google Scholar