First whole atmosphere night-time seeing measurements at Dome C, Antarctica

Abdelkrim Agabi (1) , Eric Aristidi (1) , Max Azouit (1) , Eric Fossat (1) , Francois Martin (1) , Tatiana Sadibekova (1) , Jean Vernin (1) , Aziz Ziad (1)

1 LUAN - Laboratoire Universitaire d'Astrophysique de Nice

We report site testing results obtained in night-time during the polar autumn and winter at Dome C. These results were collected during the first Concordia winterover by A. Agabi. They are based upon seeing and isoplanatic angle monitoring, as well as in-situ balloon measurements 2 of the refractive index structure constant profiles Cn (h). Atmosphere is divided into two regions: (i) a 36 m high surface layer responsible of 87% of the turbulence and (ii) a very stable free atmosphere above with a median seeing of 0.36±0.19 arcsec at an elevation of h = 30 m. The median seeing measured with a DIMM placed on top of a 8.5 m high tower is 1.3±0.8 arcsec.

Mots clés: site testing

Domaines: Instrumentation et méthodes pour l'astrophysique [astro-ph.IM]

Abdelkrim Agabi, Eric Aristidi, Max Azouit, Eric Fossat, Francois Martin, et al.. First whole atmosphere night-time seeing measurements at Dome C, Antarctica. Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 2006, 118, pp.344. ⟨10.1086/498728⟩. ⟨hal-00011238⟩