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Title: An optical to IR sky brightness model for the LSST

Abstract

To optimize the observing strategy of a large survey such as the LSST, one needs an accurate model of the night sky emission spectrum across a range of atmospheric conditions and from the near-UV to the near-IR. We have used the ESO SkyCalc Sky Model Calculator to construct a library of template spectra for the Chilean night sky. The ESO model includes emission from the upper and lower atmosphere, scattered starlight, scattered moonlight, and zodiacal light. We have then extended the ESO templates with an empirical fit to the twilight sky emission as measured by a Canon all-sky camera installed at the LSST site. With the ESO templates and our twilight model we can quickly interpolate to any arbitrary sky position and date and return the full sky spectrum or surface brightness magnitudes in the LSST filter system. Comparing our model to all-sky observations, we find typical residual RMS values of ±0.2-0.3 magnitudes per square arcsecond.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [3];  [1];  [4];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [3];  [3];  [2];  [3]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States)
  2. Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States)
  3. Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) Project Office (United States)
  4. Cook Astronomical Consulting (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
OSTI Identifier:
1784946
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC0276SF00515; SC0007881; AST1227061
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Observatory Operations: Strategies, Processes, and Systems Proceedings VI
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 9910; Conference: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, Edinburgh (United Kingdom), 15 July 2016
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; Astronomy Software; Python; Sky Emission

Citation Formats

Yoachim, Peter, Coughlin, Michael, Angeli, George Z., Claver, Charles F., Connolly, Andrew J., Cook, Kem, Daniel, Scott, Ivezić, Željko, Jones, R. Lynne, Petry, Catherine, Reuter, Michael, Stubbs, Christopher, and Xin, Bo. An optical to IR sky brightness model for the LSST. United States: N. p., 2016. Web. doi:10.1117/12.2232947.
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Yoachim, Peter, Coughlin, Michael, Angeli, George Z., Claver, Charles F., Connolly, Andrew J., Cook, Kem, Daniel, Scott, Ivezić, Željko, Jones, R. Lynne, Petry, Catherine, Reuter, Michael, Stubbs, Christopher, & Xin, Bo. An optical to IR sky brightness model for the LSST. United States. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2232947
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Yoachim, Peter, Coughlin, Michael, Angeli, George Z., Claver, Charles F., Connolly, Andrew J., Cook, Kem, Daniel, Scott, Ivezić, Željko, Jones, R. Lynne, Petry, Catherine, Reuter, Michael, Stubbs, Christopher, and Xin, Bo. Fri . "An optical to IR sky brightness model for the LSST". United States. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2232947. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1784946.
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@article{osti_1784946,
title = {An optical to IR sky brightness model for the LSST},
author = {Yoachim, Peter and Coughlin, Michael and Angeli, George Z. and Claver, Charles F. and Connolly, Andrew J. and Cook, Kem and Daniel, Scott and Ivezić, Željko and Jones, R. Lynne and Petry, Catherine and Reuter, Michael and Stubbs, Christopher and Xin, Bo},
abstractNote = {To optimize the observing strategy of a large survey such as the LSST, one needs an accurate model of the night sky emission spectrum across a range of atmospheric conditions and from the near-UV to the near-IR. We have used the ESO SkyCalc Sky Model Calculator to construct a library of template spectra for the Chilean night sky. The ESO model includes emission from the upper and lower atmosphere, scattered starlight, scattered moonlight, and zodiacal light. We have then extended the ESO templates with an empirical fit to the twilight sky emission as measured by a Canon all-sky camera installed at the LSST site. With the ESO templates and our twilight model we can quickly interpolate to any arbitrary sky position and date and return the full sky spectrum or surface brightness magnitudes in the LSST filter system. Comparing our model to all-sky observations, we find typical residual RMS values of ±0.2-0.3 magnitudes per square arcsecond.},
doi = {10.1117/12.2232947},
journal = {Observatory Operations: Strategies, Processes, and Systems Proceedings VI},
number = ,
volume = 9910,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Jul 15 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Fri Jul 15 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}
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https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2232947
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Works referenced in this record:

A daytime measurement of the lunar contribution to the night sky brightness in LSST’s ugrizy bands–initial results
journal, March 2016

  • Coughlin, Michael; Stubbs, Christopher; Claver, Chuck
  • Experimental Astronomy, Vol. 41, Issue 3
  • DOI: 10.1007/s10686-016-9494-1

UBVRI twilight sky brightness at ESO-Paranal
journal, July 2006

The dancing sky: 6 years of night-sky observations at Cerro Paranal
journal, February 2008

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