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Title: The Effect of the Earth's Atmosphere on LSST Photometry

Abstract

The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), a ground-based telescope currently under development, will allow a thorough study of dark energy by measuring, more completely and accurately than previously, the rate of expansion of the universe and the large-scale structure of the matter in it. The telescope utilizes a broadband photometric system of six wavelength bands to measure the redshifts of distant objects. The earth's atmosphere makes it difficult to acquire accurate data, since some of the light passing through the atmosphere is scattered or absorbed due to Rayleigh scattering, molecular absorption, and aerosol scattering. Changes in the atmospheric extinction distribution due to each of these three processes were simulated by altering the parameters of a sample atmospheric distribution. Spectral energy distributions of standard stars were used to simulate data acquired by the telescope. The effects of changes in the atmospheric parameters on the photon flux measurements through each wavelength band were observed in order to determine which atmospheric conditions must be monitored most closely to achieve the desired 1% uncertainty on flux values. It was found that changes in the Rayleigh scattering parameter produced the most significant variations in the data; therefore, the molecular volume density (pressure) must be measuredmore » with at most 8% uncertainty. The molecular absorption parameters produced less significant variations and could be measured with at most 62% uncertainty. The aerosol scattering parameters produced almost negligible variations in the data and could be measured with > 100% uncertainty. These atmospheric effects were found to be almost independent of the redshift of the light source. The results of this study will aid the design of the atmospheric monitoring systems for the LSST.« less

Authors:
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
891240
Report Number(s):
SLAC-TN-06-022
TRN: US0605336
DOE Contract Number:  
AC02-76SF00515
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; 72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS; ABSORPTION; AEROSOLS; DESIGN; ENERGY SPECTRA; LIGHT SOURCES; MONITORING; PHOTOMETRY; PHOTONS; RAYLEIGH SCATTERING; SCATTERING; STARS; TELESCOPES; UNIVERSE; WAVELENGTHS; Instrumentation,OTHER

Citation Formats

Rahlin, Alexandra S, and /MIT /SLAC. The Effect of the Earth's Atmosphere on LSST Photometry. United States: N. p., 2006. Web. doi:10.2172/891240.
Rahlin, Alexandra S, & /MIT /SLAC. The Effect of the Earth's Atmosphere on LSST Photometry. United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/891240
Rahlin, Alexandra S, and /MIT /SLAC. 2006. "The Effect of the Earth's Atmosphere on LSST Photometry". United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/891240. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/891240.
@article{osti_891240,
title = {The Effect of the Earth's Atmosphere on LSST Photometry},
author = {Rahlin, Alexandra S and /MIT /SLAC},
abstractNote = {The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), a ground-based telescope currently under development, will allow a thorough study of dark energy by measuring, more completely and accurately than previously, the rate of expansion of the universe and the large-scale structure of the matter in it. The telescope utilizes a broadband photometric system of six wavelength bands to measure the redshifts of distant objects. The earth's atmosphere makes it difficult to acquire accurate data, since some of the light passing through the atmosphere is scattered or absorbed due to Rayleigh scattering, molecular absorption, and aerosol scattering. Changes in the atmospheric extinction distribution due to each of these three processes were simulated by altering the parameters of a sample atmospheric distribution. Spectral energy distributions of standard stars were used to simulate data acquired by the telescope. The effects of changes in the atmospheric parameters on the photon flux measurements through each wavelength band were observed in order to determine which atmospheric conditions must be monitored most closely to achieve the desired 1% uncertainty on flux values. It was found that changes in the Rayleigh scattering parameter produced the most significant variations in the data; therefore, the molecular volume density (pressure) must be measured with at most 8% uncertainty. The molecular absorption parameters produced less significant variations and could be measured with at most 62% uncertainty. The aerosol scattering parameters produced almost negligible variations in the data and could be measured with > 100% uncertainty. These atmospheric effects were found to be almost independent of the redshift of the light source. The results of this study will aid the design of the atmospheric monitoring systems for the LSST.},
doi = {10.2172/891240},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/891240}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Aug 30 00:00:00 EDT 2006},
month = {Wed Aug 30 00:00:00 EDT 2006}
}