Site-testing at Muztagh-ata site Ⅰ:ground meteorology and sky brightness

Site-testing is crucial for achieving the goal of scientific research and analysis of meteorological and optical observing conditions,one of the associated basic tasks.As one of three potential sites to host the 12-meter Large Optical/infrared Telescope(LOT),the Muztagh-ata site,which is located on the Pamir Plateau in Xinjiang,in west China,began its site-testing task in the spring of 2017.In this paper,we firstly start with an introduction to the site and then present a statistical analysis of the ground-level meteorological properties such as air temperature,barometric pressure,relative humidity,and wind speed and direction,recorded by an automatic weather station with standard meteorological sensors for a two-year duration.We also show the monitoring results of sky brightness during this period.

Stray light analysis of the Xinglong 2.16-m telescope

An effort towards understanding the problems associated with stray light related to the Xinglong2.16-m telescope is presented to estimate the stray light performance of the telescope itself and provide a method for improving stray light suppression.Stray light analysis for the 2.16-m telescope model,which consists of an onion shaped dome,telescope structure,equatorial mount and telescope optics,has been developed in two cases(1)pointing to 60?and(2)pointing to zenith,in both azimuth and elevation directions.The Point Source Normalized Irradiance Transmittance(PSNIT),which is generally used for assessing stray light and is uncorrelated to entrance aperture,is calculated with a series of off-axis angles.It shows that the PSNIT values are less than 10-7 when off-axis angles are larger than±20?.The dominant contributors to stray light(primary and secondary mirror,telescope structure and dome)are identified to guide performance improvement.The analyses indicate that significant benefit can be realized by adding only five vanes inside the bottom portion of the secondary baffle.In the case of pointing to zenith,the PSNIT values will decrease about 40%on average.

Site testing campaign for the Large Optical/infrared Telescope of China:overview

The Large Optical/infrared Telescope(LOT)is a ground-based 12 m diameter optical/infrared telescope which is proposed to be built in the western part of China in the next decade.Based on satellite remote sensing data,along with geographical,logistical and political considerations,three candidate sites were chosen for ground-based astronomical performance monitoring.These sites include:Ali in Tibet,Daocheng in Sichuan and Muztagh-ata in Xinjiang.Up until now,all three sites have continuously collected data for two years.In this paper,we will introduce this site testing campaign,and present its monitoring results obtained during the period between March 2017 and March 2019.

Site testing at Muztagh-ata site Ⅱ:seeing statistics

In this article,we present a detailed analysis of the statistical properties of seeing for the Muztaghata site which is a candidate site for hosting the future Chinese Large Optical/infrared Telescope(LOT)project.The measurements were obtained with differential image motion monitors(DIMMs)from April2017 to November 2018 at different heights during different periods.The median seeings at 11 m and6 m are very close but significantly different from that on the ground.We mainly analyzed the seeing at11 m monthly and hourly,having found that the best season for observing was from late autumn to early winter and seeing tended to improve during the night only in autumn.The analysis of the dependence on temperature inversion,wind speed and direction also was made and the best meteorological conditions for seeing are given.

Photometric solution and period analysis of the contact binary system AH Cnc

Photometric observations of AH Cnc, a W UMa-type system in the open cluster M67, were car- fled out by using the 50BIN telescope. About 100h of time-series/3- and V-band data were taken, based on which eight new times of light minima were determined. By applying the Wilson-Devinney method, the light curves were modeled and a revised photometric solution of the binary system was derived. We con- firmed that AH Cnc is a deep contact （f = 51%）, low mass-ratio （q - 0.156） system. Adopting the distance modulus derived from study of the host cluster, we have re-calculated the physical parameters of the binary system, namely the masses and radii. The masses and radii of the two components were estimated to be respectively 1.188（4-0.061） Me, 1.332（4-0.063） RQ for the primary component and 0.185（4-0.032） Me, 0.592（4-0.051） Re for the secondary. By adding the newly derived minimum timings to all the available data, the period variations of AH Cnc were studied. This shows that the orbital period of the binary is con- tinuously increasing at a rate of dp/dt = 4.29 x 10-10 d yr-1. In addition to the long-term period increase, a cyclic variation with a period of 35.26 yr was determined, which could be attributed to an unresolved tertiary component of the system.

Data processing and data products from 2017 to 2019 campaign of astronomical site testing at Ali,Daocheng and Muztagh-ata

Based on previous site testing and satellite cloud data,Ali,Daocheng and Muztagh-ata have been selected as candidate sites for the Large Optical/Infrared Telescope(LOT) in China.We present the data collection,processing,management and quality analysis for our site testing based on using similar hardware.We analyze meteorological data,seeing,background light,cloud and precipitable water vapor data from 2017 March 10 to 2019 March 10.We also investigated the relative usefulness of our all-sky camera data in comparison to that from the meteorological TERRA satellite data based on a night-by-night comparison of the correlation and consistency between them.We find a 6% discrepancy arising from a wide range of factors.

Long-term analysis of clear nights using satellite data considering astronomical sites in western China

A large ground-based optical/infrared telescope is being planned for a world-class astronomical site in China.The cloud-free night percentage is the primary meteorological consideration for evaluating candidate sites.The data from GMS and NOAA satellites and the MODIS instrument were utilized in this research,covering the period from 1996 to 2015.Our data analysis benefits from overlapping results from different independent teams as well as a uniform analysis of selected sites using GMS+NOAA data.Although significant ground-based monitoring is needed to validate these findings,we identify three different geographical regions with a high percentage of cloud-free conditions(~83%on average),which is slightly lower than at Mauna Kea and Cerro Armazones(~85%on average)and were chosen for the large international projects TMT and ELT respectively.Our study finds evidence that cloud distributions and the seasonal changes affected by the prevailing westerly winds and summer monsoons reduce the cloud cover in areas influenced by the westerlies.This is consistent with the expectations from climate change models and is suggestive that most of the identified sites will have reduced cloud cover in the future.

Introduction to the environmental monitoring instruments for LOT

The Large Optical/infrared Telescope(LOT)is a ground-based 12 m diameter optical/infrared telescope,which is proposed to be built in the western part of China in the next decade.To select the best site which satisfies the construction and future operation of LOT,data monitoring and comparing are required for all the candidate sites.The comparison of most of the instruments was done at Xinglong Observatory.These instruments include weather station,all sky camera,sky background meter and differential image motion monitor(DIMM).This paper introduces the instruments used in LOT site monitoring and the instruments comparisons.The results show that the instrument is stable and the data uniformity of the identical instruments is good.This paper provides a fundamental description of LOT site monitoring.