Michael Allen

MooSci  MooSci is a device that uses scintillation measurements from the Moon to reconstruct the ground layer turbulence profile.  This information about the turbulence profile is used to help choose optimal sites for the placement of new telescopes.

Scintillation  Turbulent packets of air in the atmosphere act like lenses and distort incoming light.  Different sources of light will cause scintillation in different parts of the atmosphere. ○ Sun ○ Stars ○ Planets ○ Moon

Considerations for using the Moon as a source of scintillation  Scintillation frequency of the Moon  The lunar phase  Adequate signal to noise ratio of >10^4

Mechanical Design  11 photodiode circuits  Distance between each pair sets heights being profiled

Electronics  Two low pass filters  Voltage regulator and instrumentation amplifier

Data Collection and Reduction  LabView samples all 11 channels at a frequency of 10 kHz.  Python data reduction script to obtain turbulence profile

Results  Current version yet to be complete  Previous versions have worked and been used in site testing for the Giant Magellan Telescope

Questions?