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Exploring atmospheric optical turbulence: observations across zenith angles (2024)
Journal Article
Beesley, L. F., Osborn, J., Wilson, R., Farley, O. J. D., Griffiths, R., & Love, G. D. (2024). Exploring atmospheric optical turbulence: observations across zenith angles. Applied Optics, 63(16), E48. https://doi.org/10.1364/ao.519063

We present measurements of the atmospheric optical turbulence as a function of zenith angle using two identical instruments, Shack-Hartmann Image Motion Monitors (SHIMMs), to measure atmospheric parameters concurrently. One instrument was pointed nea... Read More about Exploring atmospheric optical turbulence: observations across zenith angles.

A comparison of next-generation turbulence profiling instruments at Paranal (2024)
Journal Article
Griffiths, R., Bardou, L., Butterley, T., Osborn, J., Wilson, R., Bustos, E., …Otarola, A. (2024). A comparison of next-generation turbulence profiling instruments at Paranal. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 529(1), 320 - 330. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stae434

A six-night optical turbulence monitoring campaign has been carried at Cerro Paranal observatory in February and March, 2023 to facilitate the development and characterisation of two novel atmospheric site monitoring instruments - the ring-image next... Read More about A comparison of next-generation turbulence profiling instruments at Paranal.

Optimized temporal binning of comparison star measurements for differential photometry (2023)
Journal Article
Hartley, K. E., & Wilson, R. W. (2023). Optimized temporal binning of comparison star measurements for differential photometry. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 526(3), 3482-3494. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stad2964

Ground-based, high precision observations of the light curves of objects such as transiting exoplanets rely on the application of differential photometry. The flux of the target object is measured relative to a comparison star in the same field, allo... Read More about Optimized temporal binning of comparison star measurements for differential photometry.

Continuous daytime and nighttime forecast of atmospheric optical turbulence from numerical weather prediction models (2023)
Journal Article
Quatresooz, F., Griffiths, R., Bardou, L., Wilson, R., Osborn, J., Vanhoenacker-Janvier, D., & Oestges, C. (2023). Continuous daytime and nighttime forecast of atmospheric optical turbulence from numerical weather prediction models. Optics Express, 31(21), 33850-33872. https://doi.org/10.1364/oe.500090

Future satellite-to-ground optical communication systems will benefit from accurate forecasts of atmospheric optical turbulence; namely for site selection, for the routing and the operation of optical links, and for the design of optical communicatio... Read More about Continuous daytime and nighttime forecast of atmospheric optical turbulence from numerical weather prediction models.

Optical sparse telescope arrays and scintillation noise (2023)
Journal Article
Hartley, K. E., Farley, O. J. D., Townson, M. J., Osborn, J., & Wilson, R. W. (2023). Optical sparse telescope arrays and scintillation noise. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 526(1), 1235-1245. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stad2835

Fresnel propagation of starlight after it passes through high altitude turbulence in the Earth’s atmosphere results in random fluctuations of the intensity at ground level, known as scintillation. This effect adds random noise to photometric measurem... Read More about Optical sparse telescope arrays and scintillation noise.

First On-Sky Demonstration of a Scintillation Correction technique using Tomographic Wavefront Sensing (2023)
Journal Article
Hartley, K. E., Farley, O. J., Townson, M. J., Osborn, J., & Wilson, R. (2023). First On-Sky Demonstration of a Scintillation Correction technique using Tomographic Wavefront Sensing. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 520(3), 4134-4146. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stad420

Scintillation noise significantly limits high precision ground-based photometry of bright stars. In this paper we present the first ever on-sky demonstration of scintillation correction. The technique uses tomographic wavefront sensing to estimate th... Read More about First On-Sky Demonstration of a Scintillation Correction technique using Tomographic Wavefront Sensing.

SHIMM: a versatile seeing monitor for astronomy (2023)
Journal Article
Perera, S., Wilson, R. W., Butterley, T., Osborn, J., Farley, O. J., & Laidlaw, D. J. (2023). SHIMM: a versatile seeing monitor for astronomy. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 520(4), 5475-5486. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stad339

Characterization of atmospheric optical turbulence is crucial for the design and operation of modern ground-based optical telescopes. In particular, the effective application of adaptive optics correction on large and extremely large telescopes relie... Read More about SHIMM: a versatile seeing monitor for astronomy.

Demonstrating 24-hour continuous vertical monitoring of atmospheric optical turbulence (2023)
Journal Article
Griffiths, R., Osborn, J., Farley, O., Butterley, T., Townson, M. J., & Wilson, R. (2023). Demonstrating 24-hour continuous vertical monitoring of atmospheric optical turbulence. Optics Express, 31(4), 6730-6740. https://doi.org/10.1364/oe.479544

We report what is believed to be the first example of fully continuous, 24-hour vertical monitoring of atmospheric optical turbulence. This is achieved using a novel instrument, the 24-hour Shack-Hartmann Image Motion Monitor (24hSHIMM). Optical turb... Read More about Demonstrating 24-hour continuous vertical monitoring of atmospheric optical turbulence.

FASS: a turbulence profiler based on a fast, low-noise camera (2020)
Journal Article
Guesalaga, A., Ayancán, B., Sarazin, M., Wilson, R., Perera, S., & Le Louarn, M. (2021). FASS: a turbulence profiler based on a fast, low-noise camera. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 501(2), 3030-3045. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa3823

The measurement of the atmospheric optical turbulence with a new scintillation profiler is described and demonstrated. The instrument, FASS (Full Aperture Scintillation Sensor), uses new fast and low-noise detectors to record and process sequences of... Read More about FASS: a turbulence profiler based on a fast, low-noise camera.

The Pre-He White Dwarf in the Post-mass Transfer Binary EL CVn (2019)
Journal Article
Wang, L., Gies, D. R., Lester, K. V., Guo, Z., Matson, R. A., Peters, G. J., …Maxted, P. F. (2020). The Pre-He White Dwarf in the Post-mass Transfer Binary EL CVn. Astronomical Journal, 159(1), Article 4. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/ab52fa

EL CVn is the prototype of a class of eclipsing binaries that consist of an A- or F-type main-sequence star and a hot, low-mass, pre-He white dwarf (pre-He WD), the stripped down remains of the former mass donor. Here we present the first direct dete... Read More about The Pre-He White Dwarf in the Post-mass Transfer Binary EL CVn.

Automated wind velocity profiling from adaptive optics telemetry (2019)
Journal Article
Laidlaw, D. J., Osborn, J., Morris, T. J., Basden, A. G., Gendron, E., Rousset, G., …Wilson, R. W. (2020). Automated wind velocity profiling from adaptive optics telemetry. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 491(1), 1287-1294. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz3062

Ground-based adaptive optics (AO) systems can use temporal control techniques to greatly improve image resolution. A measure of wind velocity as a function of altitude is needed to minimize the temporal errors associated with these systems. Spatio-te... Read More about Automated wind velocity profiling from adaptive optics telemetry.

Atmospheric scintillation noise in ground-based exoplanet photometry (2019)
Journal Article
Föhring, D., Wilson, R., Osborn, J., & Dhillon, V. (2019). Atmospheric scintillation noise in ground-based exoplanet photometry. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 489(4), 5098-5108. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz2444

Atmospheric scintillation caused by optical turbulence in the Earth’s atmosphere can be the dominant source of noise in ground-based photometric observations of bright targets, which is a particular concern for ground-based exoplanet transit photomet... Read More about Atmospheric scintillation noise in ground-based exoplanet photometry.

Identifying optical turbulence profiles for realistic tomographic error in adaptive optics (2019)
Journal Article
Farley, O., Osborn, J., Morris, T., Fusco, T., Neichel, B., Correia, C., & Wilson, R. (2019). Identifying optical turbulence profiles for realistic tomographic error in adaptive optics. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 488(1), 213-221. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz1669

For extremely large telescopes, adaptive optics will be required to correct the Earth’s turbulent atmosphere. The performance of tomographic adaptive optics is strongly dependent on the vertical distribution (profile) of this turbulence. An important... Read More about Identifying optical turbulence profiles for realistic tomographic error in adaptive optics.

The PDS 110 observing campaign – photometric and spectroscopic observations reveal eclipses are aperiodic (2019)
Journal Article
Osborn, H., Kenworthy, M., Rodriguez, J., de Mooij, E., Kennedy, G., Relles, H., …Zhou, G. (2019). The PDS 110 observing campaign – photometric and spectroscopic observations reveal eclipses are aperiodic. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 485(2), 1614-1625. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz283

PDS 110 is a young disc-hosting star in the Orion OB1A association. Two dimming events of similar depth and duration were seen in 2008 (WASP) and 2011 (KELT), consistent with an object in a closed periodic orbit. In this paper, we present data from a... Read More about The PDS 110 observing campaign – photometric and spectroscopic observations reveal eclipses are aperiodic.

Optimizing the accuracy and efficiency of optical turbulence profiling using adaptive optics telemetry for extremely large telescopes (2018)
Journal Article
Laidlaw, D. J., Osborn, J., Morris, T. J., Basden, A. G., Beltramo-Martin, O., Butterley, T., …Wilson, R. W. (2018). Optimizing the accuracy and efficiency of optical turbulence profiling using adaptive optics telemetry for extremely large telescopes. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 483(4), 4341-4353. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/sty3285

Advanced adaptive optics (AO) instruments on ground-based telescopes require accurate knowledge of the atmospheric turbulence strength as a function of altitude. This information assists point spread function reconstruction, AO temporal control techn... Read More about Optimizing the accuracy and efficiency of optical turbulence profiling using adaptive optics telemetry for extremely large telescopes.

Representative optical turbulence profiles for ESO Paranal by hierarchical clustering (2018)
Journal Article
Farley, O., Osborn, J., Morris, T., Sarazin, M., Butterley, T., Townson, M., …Wilson, R. (2018). Representative optical turbulence profiles for ESO Paranal by hierarchical clustering. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 481(3), 4030-4037. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/sty2536

Knowledge of the optical turbulence profile is important in adaptive optics (AO) systems, particularly tomographic AO systems such as those to be employed by the next generation of 40-m class extremely large telescopes. Site characterization and moni... Read More about Representative optical turbulence profiles for ESO Paranal by hierarchical clustering.

Optical turbulence profiling with Stereo-SCIDAR for VLT and ELT (2018)
Journal Article
Osborn, J., Wilson, R., Sarazin, M., Butterley, T., Chacon, A., Derie, F., …Townson, M. (2018). Optical turbulence profiling with Stereo-SCIDAR for VLT and ELT. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 478(1), 825-834. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/sty1070

Knowledge of the Earth’s atmospheric optical turbulence is critical for astronomical instrumentation. Not only does it enable performance verification and optimisation of existing systems but it is required for the design of future instruments. As a... Read More about Optical turbulence profiling with Stereo-SCIDAR for VLT and ELT.

Hunting for eclipses: high-speed observations of cataclysmic variables (2016)
Journal Article
Hardy, L., McAllister, M., Dhillon, V., Littlefair, S., Bours, M., Breedt, E., …Woudt, P. (2017). Hunting for eclipses: high-speed observations of cataclysmic variables. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 465(4), 4968-4984. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw3051

We present new time-resolved photometry of 74 cataclysmic variables (CVs), 47 of which are eclipsing. Thirteen of these eclipsing systems are newly discovered. For all 47 eclipsing systems, we show high cadence (1–20 s) light curves obtained with the... Read More about Hunting for eclipses: high-speed observations of cataclysmic variables.

Turbulence velocity profiling for high sensitivity and vertical-resolution atmospheric characterization with Stereo-SCIDAR (2016)
Journal Article
Osborn, J., Butterley, T., Townson, M., Reeves, A., Morris, T., & Wilson, R. (2017). Turbulence velocity profiling for high sensitivity and vertical-resolution atmospheric characterization with Stereo-SCIDAR. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 464(4), 3998-4007. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw2685

As telescopes become larger, into the era of ∼40 m Extremely Large Telescopes, the high-resolution vertical profile of the optical turbulence strength is critical for the validation, optimization and operation of optical systems. The velocity of atmo... Read More about Turbulence velocity profiling for high sensitivity and vertical-resolution atmospheric characterization with Stereo-SCIDAR.