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NASA NTRS1975

The night sky brightness at McDonald Observatory

Baseline observations of the night sky brightness in B and V are presented for McDonald Observatory. In agreement with earlier work by Elvey and Rudnick (1937) and Elvey (1943), significant night-to-night and same-night variations in sky brightness are found. Possible causes for these variations are discussed. The largest variation in sky brightness found during a single night is approximately a factor of two, a value which corresponds to a factor-of-four variation in airglow brightness. The data are used to comment on the accuracy of previously published surface photometry of M 81.

Kalinowski, J. K.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Measuring the direct sky brightness on CCD images

A new method of determining the background sky brightness for stellar photometric measurements with CCDs is described. By fitting and subtracting stellar profiles from a CCD image, one can measure the sky brightness directly at the position of each star after subtraction. These sky values can then be used for the next round of profile fitting and subtraction. The 'direct sky' brightness for a star is the convergent value of the sky after a few such iterations and is the most direct measurement of the line-of-sight contribution of the background to the observed magnitude of a star. Using this method, a decrease of the random photometric errors by more than a factor of two over standard methods is possible, with the most significant improvements for stars in very crowded regions and areas of strong and highly variable nebulosity.

Parker, Joel WM.↗
NASA NTRS1997

The 1997 Reference of Diffuse Night Sky Brightness

In the following we present material in tabular and graphical form, with the aim to allow the non specialist to obtain a realistic estimate of the diffuse night sky brightness over a wide range of wavelengths from the far UV longward of Ly to the far-infrared.

Night sky brightness airglow zodiacal light integr↗
NASA NTRS1988

Spain 31-GHz observations of sky brightness temperatures

A water vapor radiometer was deployed at DSS 63 for 3 months of sky brightness temperature measurements at 31 GHz. An exceedance plot was derived from this data showing the fraction of time that 31 GHz 30 degree elevation angle brightness temperature exceeds specified values. The 5 percent exceedance statistics occurs at 75 K, compared with 70 K in Australia.

Gary, B. L.↗
NASA NTRS1972

The extragalactic component of the ultraviolet sky brightness

The surface brightness of the night sky has been measured at 12 wavelengths in the 1250-4300 A spectral region with the stellar photometers on OAO-2. From observations at high galactic latitudes it is possible to set upper limits on the brightness of the extragalactic sky background at several wavelengths. In the wavelength range 1420-1680 A the extragalactic background is not greater than 1.2 x 10 to the minus eight power cm/2 s/1 ster/1 A/1. Observations of near-by galaxies with OAO-2 are used to predict the background due to extragalactic nebulae. It is shown that instruments which are an order of magnitude more sensitive would be required to detect the extragalactic component of the light of the night sky.

Lillie, C. F.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Size distribution and scattering phase function of aerosol particles retrieved from sky brightness measurements

Ground-based measurements of the solar transmission and sky radiance in a horizontal plane through the Sun are taken in several geographical regions and aerosol types: dust in a desert transition zone in Israel, sulfate particles in Eastern and Western Europe, tropical aerosol in Brazil, and mixed continental/maritime aerosol in California. Stratospheric aerosol was introduced after the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in June 1991. Therefore measurements taken before the eruption are used to analyze the properties of tropospheric aerosol; measurements from 1992 are also used to detect the particle size and concentration of stratospheric aerosol. The measurements are used to retrieve the size distribution and the scattering phase function at large scattering angles of the undisturbed aerosol particles. The retrieved properties represent an average on the entire atmospheric column. A comparison between the retrieved phase function for a scattering angle of 120 deg, with phase function predicted from the retrieved size distribution, is used to test the assumption of particle homogeneity and sphericity in radiative transfer models (Mie theory). The effect was found to be small (20% +/- 15%). For the stratospheric aerosol (sulfates), as expected, the phase function was very well predicted using the Mie theory. A model with a power law distribution, based on the spectral dependence of the optical thickness, alpha, cannot estimate accurately the phase function (up to 50% error for lambda = 0.87 microns). Before the Pinatubo eruption the ratio between the volumes of sulfate and coarse particles was very well correlated with alpha. The Pinatubo stratospheric aerosol destroyed this correlation. The aerosol optical properties are compared with analysis of the size, shape, and composition of the individual particles by electron microscopy of in situ samples. The measured volume size distribution before the injection of stratospheric aerosol consistently show two modes, sulfate particles with r(sub m) less than 0.2 microns and coarse paritcles with r(sub m) greater than 0.7 microns. The 'window' in the tropospheric aerosol in this radius range was used to observe a stable stratospheric aerosol in 1992, with r(sub m) approximately 0.5 microns. A combination of such optical thickness and sky measurements can be used to assess the direct forcing and the climatic impact of aerosol. Systematic inversion for the key aerosol types (sulfates, smoke, dust, and maritime aerosol) of the size distribution and phase function can give the relationship between the aerosol physical and optical properties that can be used to compute the radiative forcing. This forcing can be validated in dedicated field experiments.

Kaufman, Y. J.↗
NASA NTRS2006

The Origin of the Excess Near-Infrared Diffuse Sky Brightness: Population III Stars or Zodiacal Light?

The intensity of the diffuse 1 to 5 micron sky emission from which solar system and Galactic foregrounds have been subtracted is in excess of that expected from energy released by galaxies and stars that formed during the z < 5 redshift interval. The spectral signature of this excess near-infrared background light (NIRBL) component is almost identical to that of reflected sunlight from the interplanetary dust cloud, and could therefore be the result of the incomplete subtraction of this foreground emission component from the diffuse sky maps. Alternatively, this emission component could be extragalactic. Its spectral signature is consistent with that of redshifted continuum and recombination line emission from H-II regions formed by the first generation of very massive stars. In this talk I will present the implications of this excess emission for our understanding of the zodiacal dust cloud, the formation rate of Pop III stars, and the TeV gamma-ray opacity to nearby blazars.

Dwek, Eli↗
NASA NTRS2011

ARCADE 2 Measurement of the Absolute Sky Brightness at 3-90 GHz

The ARCADE 2 instrument has measured the absolute temperature of the sky at frequencies 3, 8, 10, 30, and 90 GHz, uSing an open-aperture cryogenic instrument observing al balloon altitudes with no emissive windows between the beam-forming optics and the sky. An external blackbody calibrator provides an in situ reference. Systematic errors were greatly reduced by using differential radiometers and cooling all critical components to physical temperatures approximating the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature. A linear model is used to compare the output of each radiometer to a set of thermometers on the instrument. Small correction. are made for the residual emission from the flight train, balloon, atmosphere, and foreground Galactic emission. The ARCADE 2 data alone show an excess radio rise of 54 +/- 6 mK at 3.3 GHz in addition to a CMB temperature of 2.731 +/- 0.004 K. Combining the ARCADE 2 data with data from the literature shows an excess power-law spectrum of T = 24.1 +/- 2.1 (K)(v/v(sub o)(exp -2.599+/-0.036 from 22 MHz to 10 GHz (v(sub 0) = 310 MHz) in addition to a CMB temperature of 2.725 +/- 0.001 K.

Fixsen, D. J.↗
NASA NTRS2011

Interpretation of the Arcade 2 Absolute Sky Brightness Measurement

We use absolutely calibrated data between 3 and 90 GHz from the 2006 balloon flight of the ARCADE 2 instrument, along with previous measurements at other frequencies to constrain models of extragalactic emission. Such emission is a combination of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) monopole, Galactic foreground emission, the integrated contribution of radio emission from external galaxies, any spectral distortions present in the CMB, and any other extragalactic source. After removal of estimates of foreground emission from our own Galaxy, and an estimated contribution of external galaxies, we present fits to a combination of the flat-spectrum CMB and potential spectral distortions in the CMB. We find 217 upper limits to CMB spectral distortions of u < 6x10(exp -4) and [Y(sub ff)] < 1x10(exp -4). We also find a significant detection of a residual signal beyond that, which can be explained by the CMB plus the integrated radio emission from galaxies estimated from existing surveys. This residual signal may be due to an underestimated galactic foreground contribution, an unaccounted for contribution of a background of radio sources, or some combination of both. The residual signal is consistent with emission in the form of a power law with amplitUde 18.4 +/- 2.1 K at 0.31 GHz and a spectral index of -2.57 +/- 0.05.

Seiffert, M.↗
NASA NTRS1992

A survey of small-scale extremes in extinction at low Galactic latitudes using IRAS galaxies

Optical CCD and 21 cm H I data are combined here via the Tully-Fisher relation to study the Galactic extinction in the V an I bands over an angular scale of a few arcmin at absolute Galactic latitudes between 2 and 16 deg. Extinctions in V and I bands are found to be linearly correlated with A(I) about 0.58 A(V), with no noticeable environmental dependence and consistent with existing results of Galactic reddening. There is a large scatter in the simple linear relation with csc /b/, confirming the existence of 'holes' and patches at low Galactic latitudes. The mean correlation between Galactic extinction and H I column density over a comparable angular scale is also found to be consistent with those at high latitudes over large angular scales. Correlation is also found between optical extinction and the IRAS 100 micron sky brightness, and this sky brightness is only slightly worse than H I column density as an indicator for optical extinction.

Lu, N. Y.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Design of a Day/Night Star Camera System

This paper describes the design of a camera system capable of acquiring stars during both the day and night cycles of a high altitude balloon flight (35-42 km). The camera system will be filtered to operate in the R band (590-810 nm). Simulations have been run using MODTRAN atmospheric code to determine the worse case sky brightness at 35 km. With a daytime sky brightness of 2(exp -05) W/sq cm/str/um in the R band, the sensitivity of the camera system will allow acquisition of at least 1-2 stars/sq degree at star magnitude limits of 8.25-9.00. The system will have an F2.8, 64.3 mm diameter lens and a 1340X1037 CCD array digitized to 12 bits. The CCD array is comprised of 6.8 X 6.8 micron pixels with a well depth of 45,000 electrons and a quantum efficiency of 0.525 at 700 nm. The camera's field of view will be 6.33 sq degree and provide attitude knowledge to 8 arcsec or better. A test flight of the system is scheduled for fall 1999.

Alexander, Cheryl↗
NASA NTRS2001

A Performance Comparison for Two Versions of the Vulcan Photometer

Analysis of the images produced by the first version (V1) of the Vulcan photometer indicated that two major sources of noise were sky brightness and image motion. To reduce the effect of the sky brightness, a second version (V2) with a longer focal length and a larger format detector was developed and tested. The first version consisted of 15-centimeter (cm) focal length, F/1.5 Aerojet Delft reconnaissance lens, and a 2048 x 2048 format front-illuminated charged coupled device (CCD) with 9 microns micropixels (Mpixels). The second version used a 30-cm focal length, F/2.5 Kodak AeroEktar lens, and a 4096 x 4096 format CCD with 9 micro pixels. Both have a 49-square-degree field of view (FOV) but the area of the sky subtended by each pixel in the V2 version is one-fourth that of the V1 version. This modification substantially reduces the shot noise due to the sky background and allows fainter stars to be monitored for planetary transits. To remove the data gap and consequent signal-level change caused by flipping the photometer around the declination axis and to reduce image movement on the detector, several other modifications were incorporated. These include modifying the mount and stiffening the photometer and autoguider structures to reduce flexure. This paper compares the performance characteristics of each photometer and discusses tests to identify sources of systematic noise.

Borucki, W. J.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Microwave radiometer measurement of water vapor path delay: Data reduction techniques

Data reduction techniques are developed to compensate for water vapor path delay, a limiting error source in geodetic measurements made with very long baseline interferometry and in radio ranging to spacecraft. It is shown that water vapor path delay is proportional to a linear combination of saturation-corrected sky brightness temperatures, measured on and off the water vapor line. The effects of emission from liquid water droplets in clouds as well as most of the oxygen emission are removed by the off-line channel. Sky brightness temperatures are saturation-corrected or 'linearized' using estimates of effective sky temperatures made from surface temperature. Tipping curves are used to remove instrumental error. Coefficients are found by two methods: from a regression analysis of measured brightness temperatures versus radiosonde measured delay, and from a regression analysis of theoretical brightness temperatures versus radiosonde measured delay. In each case the coefficients are adjusted for differing climatic conditions by measurements of surface temperature, pressure, and relative humidity. Regression solutions are constrained to remove liquid water contributions and to give the correct slope for radiometer versus radiosonde path delay.

Claflin, E. S.↗
NASA NTRS1981

The Martian twilight

The changing sky brightness during the Martian twilight as measured by the Viking lander cameras is shown to be consistent with data obtained from sky brightness measurements. An exponential distribution of dust with a scale height of 10 km, equal to the atmospheric scale height, is consistent with the shape of the light curve. Multiple scattering resulting from the forward scattering peak of large particles makes a major contribution to the intensity of the twilight. The spectral distribution of light in the twilight sky may require slightly different optical properties for the scattering particles at high levels from those of the aerosol at lower levels.

Kahn, R.↗
NASA NTRS1972

OAO-2 observations of the zodiacal light

Photometric measurements of the night sky brightness have been obtained at twelve wavelengths between 1000 A and 4300 A from above the earth's atmosphere. A preliminary analysis of the data reveals a component of the sky brightness with ecliptic symmetry and an intensity distribution similar to that of the zodiacal light. The ultraviolet spectrum of the zodiacal light can be closely approximated with a two component model in which one component has an albedo proportional to the wavelength lambda and the other component has a scattering efficiency proportional to lambda to lbe minus 19 power.

Lillie, C. F.↗