Ajay Gill
Optical Night Sky Brightness Measurements from the Stratosphere
Gill, Ajay; Benton, Steven J.; Brown, Anthony M.; Clark, Paul; Damaren, Christopher J.; Eifler, Tim; Fraisse, Aurelien A.; Galloway, Mathew N.; Hartley, John W.; Holder, Bradley; Huff, Eric M.; Jauzac, Mathilde; Jones, William C.; Lagattuta, David; Leung, Jason S. -Y.; Li, Lun; Luu, Thuy Vy T.; Massey, Richard J.; McCleary, Jacqueline; Mullaney, James; Nagy, Johanna M.; Netterfield, C. Barth; Redmond, Susan; Rhodes, Jason D.; Romualdez, L. Javier; Schmoll, Jürgen; Shaaban, Mohamed M.; Sirks, Ellen; Sivanandam, Suresh; Tam, Sut-Ieng
Authors
Steven J. Benton
Anthony M. Brown
Paul Clark
Christopher J. Damaren
Tim Eifler
Aurelien A. Fraisse
Mathew N. Galloway
John W. Hartley
Bradley Holder
Eric M. Huff
Mathilde Jauzac
William C. Jones
David Lagattuta
Jason S. -Y. Leung
Lun Li
Thuy Vy T. Luu
Professor Richard Massey r.j.massey@durham.ac.uk
Professor
Jacqueline McCleary
James Mullaney
Johanna M. Nagy
C. Barth Netterfield
Susan Redmond
Jason D. Rhodes
L. Javier Romualdez
Jürgen Schmoll
Mohamed M. Shaaban
Ellen Sirks
Suresh Sivanandam
Sut-Ieng Tam
Abstract
This paper presents optical night sky brightness measurements from the stratosphere using CCD images taken with the Super-pressure Balloon-borne Imaging Telescope (SuperBIT). The data used for estimating the backgrounds were obtained during three commissioning flights in 2016, 2018, and 2019 at altitudes ranging from 28 to 34 km above sea level. For a valid comparison of the brightness measurements from the stratosphere with measurements from mountain-top ground-based observatories (taken at zenith on the darkest moonless night at high Galactic and high ecliptic latitudes), the stratospheric brightness levels were zodiacal light and diffuse Galactic light subtracted, and the airglow brightness was projected to zenith. The stratospheric brightness was measured around 5.5 hr, 3 hr, and 2 hr before the local sunrise time in 2016, 2018, and 2019, respectively. The B, V, R, and I brightness levels in 2016 were 2.7, 1.0, 1.1, and 0.6 mag arcsec−2 darker than the darkest ground-based measurements. The B, V, and R brightness levels in 2018 were 1.3, 1.0, and 1.3 mag arcsec−2 darker than the darkest ground-based measurements. The U and I brightness levels in 2019 were 0.1 mag arcsec−2 brighter than the darkest ground-based measurements, whereas the B and V brightness levels were 0.8 and 0.6 mag arcsec−2 darker than the darkest ground-based measurements. The lower sky brightness levels, stable photometry, and lower atmospheric absorption make stratospheric observations from a balloon-borne platform a unique tool for astronomy. We plan to continue this work in a future midlatitude long duration balloon flight with SuperBIT.
Citation
Gill, A., Benton, S. J., Brown, A. M., Clark, P., Damaren, C. J., Eifler, T., …Tam, S. (2020). Optical Night Sky Brightness Measurements from the Stratosphere. Astronomical Journal, 160(6), Article 266. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/abbffb
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Acceptance Date | Oct 9, 2020 |
Online Publication Date | Nov 18, 2020 |
Publication Date | 2020-12 |
Deposit Date | Sep 29, 2021 |
Publicly Available Date | Nov 4, 2021 |
Journal | The Astronomical Journal |
Print ISSN | 0004-6256 |
Electronic ISSN | 1538-3881 |
Publisher | IOP Publishing |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 160 |
Issue | 6 |
Article Number | 266 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/abbffb |
Public URL | https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1238322 |
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Copyright Statement
© 2020. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved
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