The Gattini Cameras for Optical Sky Brightness Measurements at Dome C, Antarctica

¹ California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91106, USA
² LUAN, Université de Nice, Parc Valrose, 06108 Nice Cedex 2, France
³ School of Physics, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
⁴ Dipartimento di Fisica, Univerita La Sapienza, Piazzale Aldo Moro, 00185 Rome, Italy
⁵ Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita di Perugia, via A. Pascoli, 06123 Perugia, Italy
⁶ Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio, CNR, via Fosso Cavaliere 100, Roma, and Programma Nazionale di Ricerche in Antartide, ENEA, Roma, Italy
⁷ Observatoire Astronomique de Marseille, 2 place Leverrier, 13248 Marseille, France
⁸ INAF: Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Vicolo dell'Osservatorio 5, 35122 Padova, Italy
⁹ INAF: Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Largo Enrico Fermi 5, 50125 Firenze, Italy

Corresponding author: amoore@astro.caltech.edu

Abstract

The Gattini cameras are two site testing instruments for the measurement of optical sky brightness, large area cloud cover and auroral detection of the night sky above the high altitude Dome C site in Antarctica. The cameras have been operating since installation in January 2006 and are currently at the end of the first Antarctic winter season. The cameras are transit in nature and are virtually identical, both adopting Apogee Alta CCD detectors. By taking frequent images of the night sky we obtain long term cloud cover statistics, measure the sky background intensity as a function of solar and lunar altitude and phase and directly measure the spatial extent of bright aurora if present and when they occur. The full data set will return in December 2006 however a limited amount of data has been transferred via the Iridium network enabling preliminary data reduction and system evaluation. An update of the project is presented together with preliminary results from data taken since commencement of the winter season.