Optical turbulence above mountains seen in 3D

Creators: Els, S. G.; Vogiatzis, K.; Otárola, A.; Riddle, R.; Schöck, M.; Skidmore, W.; Travouillon, T.

Others:: Stepp, Larry M.; Gilmozzi, Roberto; Hall, Helen J.

Abstract

Atmospheric optical turbulence is the main driver of wavefront distortions which affect optical telescope performance. Therefore, many techniques have been developed to measure the optical turbulence strength along the line of sight. Based on data collected with the MASS (Multi Aperture Scintillation Sensor), we show that a large sample of such measurements can be used to assess the average three dimensional turbulence distribution above ground. The use of, and a more sophisticated instrumental setup for, such turbulence tomography will be discussed.

Additional Information

© 2010 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). This work is based on data collected during the site testing project for the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT). The TMT Project gratefully acknowledges the support of the TMT partner institutions. They are the Association of Canadian Universities for Research in Astronomy (ACURA), the California Institute of Technology and the University of California. This work was supported as well by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation, the National Research Council of Canada, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the British Columbia Knowledge Development Fund, the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) and the U.S. National Science Foundation.

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