Observatories are affected by dust particles in the air and those that settle on the mirror surfaces. Here we analyze seven years of weather and dust particle data from the Apache Point Observatory (APO) in Sunspot, New Mexico, to find correlations between dust and other weather factors, and also find correlations between the APO data and the Magdalena Ridge Observatory (MRO) weather data. Exposure of optics to strong dust events should be avoided, so we considered different possible observatory clousre criteria based on these data.
The Magdalena Ridge Observatory is a congressionally funded project
to deliver a state-of-the-art observatory on the Magdalena Ridge in
New Mexico to provide astronomical research, educational and outreach
programs to the state. In this paper we report results from one of
our undergraduate projects being run at New Mexico Tech. This project
focuses on the design and characterization of a novel instrument
for sensing the atmospheric flow instabilities related to seeing at the observatory site. The instrument attempts to find the power of turbulence on millisecond time scales by measuring a voltage difference between two active microphones. The principles behind the instrument are explored here and a description of the limitations of the current experimental implementation is given. Initial results from the experiment are presented and compared with simultaneous measurements from a co-located Differential Image Motion Monitor. The instrument is shown to be a valuable and robust tool for monitoring the atmospheric conditions during site testing campaigns, but further
data will be needed to confirm the precise nature of the correlation between measurements made with this system and more conventional seeing metrics.
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