Site prospection at San Pedro Mártir

 

J. Bohigas,¹ J. M. Núñez,¹ P. F. Guillén,¹ F. Lazo,¹ D. Hiriart,¹ T. Calvario,¹ O. Escoboza,¹ A. Córdova,¹ J. Valdez,¹ and E. Sohn²

 

¹ Instituto de Astronomía, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, km 13 Carretera Tijuana–Ensenada, 22860 Ensenada, B. C., México (jbb@astrosen.unam.mx, jnunez@astrosen.unam.mx, fguillen@astrosen.unam.mx lazo@astrosen.unam.mx, hiriart@astrosen.unam.mx, tomas@astrosen.unam.mx, pocho@astrosen.unam.mx, antolin@astrosen.unam.mx, escoboza_osiris@yahoo.com.mx)

² Instituto de Astronomía, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Apdo. Postal 70–264, México D. F. 04510, México (sohn@astroscu.unam.mx)

 

Received 2008 January 14
Accepted 2008 February 26

 

RESUMEN

Realizamos mediciones climatológicas y de seeing, en 5 sitios dentro del área reservada para uso astronómico en el Parque Nacional Sierra de San Pedro Mártir (SPM), durante al menos 15 noches en cada uno de ellos. Las variables climáticas se midieron con una estación meteorológica Davis y un anemómetro ultrasónico Metek. El seeing fue medido con un RoboDIMM fabricado por NOAO. Las mediciones climatológicas y de seeing fueron comparadas con las obtenidas simultáneamente con la instrumentación del Thirty Meter Telescope Project en el Observatorio Astronómico Nacional (OAN) en SPM. Las diferencias de seeing son pequeñas en la mayor parte de los casos. Recomendamos que se realice una campaña de larga duración en Llano Alto 1, ya que es un sitio de fácil acceso y el seeing parece ser ligeramente mejor.

 

ABSTRACT

Seeing and weather observations were conducted at 5 sites within the boundaries of the area reserved for astronomy at the Sierra de San Pedro Mártir National Park (SPM), for at least 15 nights at each one of these. Weather variables were measured using a Davis Weather Station and a Metek Ultrasonic Anemometer. Seeing information was collected with a NOAO RoboDIMM unit. Seeing and weather results were compared to those being delivered at the same time by the instrumentation of the Thirty Meter Telescope Project at the Observatorio Astronómico Nacional (OAN) at SPM. Seeing differences are small in most cases. We recommend a long term campaign at the easily accessible site Llano Alto 1, where we found that seeing may be slightly better.

Key Words: atmospheric effects — site testing

 

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Acknowledgements

The generosity of the TMT Site Selection Team and CTIO is gratefully acknowledged. This research would not have been possible without the NOAO RoboDIMM unit that we used during this year–long campaign and the seeing and meteorological data provided by the TMT project. We also acknowledge the readiness, ideas and enthusiastic support from all the OAN staff at SPM. We thank Mathias Schöck for his comments and observations, which helped us produce a better and more informed work.

An unknown and very efficient referee lead us to a much improved paper. One of us (JB) acknowledges support from Conacyt project 400380–5–G36531–E and DGAPA–Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México projects IN–102803 and IN–102607.

 

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