Variation of the near-IR sky continuum background from long-slit spectroscopy

Y. B. Yang; M. Puech; H. Flores; F. Hammer; M. Rodrigues; K. Disseau

doi:10.1117/12.925945

24 September 2012 Variation of the near-IR sky continuum background from long-slit spectroscopy

Y. B. Yang, M. Puech, H. Flores, F. Hammer, M. Rodrigues, K. Disseau

Proceedings Volume 8446, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy IV; 84467Q (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.925945
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2012, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Abstract

The amplitudes and scales of spatial variations of the sky continuum background can be a potential limit of the telescope performance, because the study of the extremely faint objects requires the subtraction accuracy below 1%. Thus, studying its statistical properties is essential for the design of next generation instruments, especially the fiber-fed instruments, as well as their observation strategies. Using ESO archive data of VLT/FORS2 long-slit observations, we analyzed the auto-correlation function of the sky continuum. As preliminary results, we find that the sky continuum background has multi-scale spatial variations at scales from 2" to 150" with total amplitude of ~0.5%, for an given exposure time of 900s. This can be considered as the upper limit of sky continuum background variation over a field-of-view of few arcmins. The origin of these variations need further studies.

Citation Download Citation

Y. B. Yang, M. Puech, H. Flores, F. Hammer, M. Rodrigues, and K. Disseau "Variation of the near-IR sky continuum background from long-slit spectroscopy", Proc. SPIE 8446, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy IV, 84467Q (24 September 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.925945

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available