Sky brightness is an essential topic in the field of astronomy, especially for optical astronom- ical observations that need very clear and dark sky conditions. This study presents the spatial model of sky brightness ...Sky brightness is an essential topic in the field of astronomy, especially for optical astronom- ical observations that need very clear and dark sky conditions. This study presents the spatial model of sky brightness magnitude in Langkawi Island, Malaysia. Two types of Sky Quality Meter （SQM） manu- factured by Unihedron are used to measure the sky brightness on a moonless night （or when the Moon is below the horizon）, when the sky is cloudless and the locations are at least 100 m from the nearest light source. The selected locations are marked by their GPS coordinates. The sky brightness data obtained in this study were interpolated and analyzed using a Geographic Information System （GIS）, thus producing a spatial model of sky brightness that clearly shows the dark and bright sky areas in Langkawi Island. Surprisingly, our results show the existence of a few dark sites nearby areas of high human activity. The sky brightness of 21.45 mag arcsec-2 in the Johnson-Cousins V-band, as the average of sky brightness equivalent to 2.8 × 10-4cd m-2 over the entire island, is an indication that the island is, overall, still relatively dark. However, the amount of development taking place might reduce the number in the near future as the island is famous as a holiday destination.展开更多
We investigate the influence of population density on radio-frequency inter- ference （RFI） affecting radio astronomy. We use a new method to quantify the thresh- old of population density in order to determine the m...We investigate the influence of population density on radio-frequency inter- ference （RFI） affecting radio astronomy. We use a new method to quantify the thresh- old of population density in order to determine the most suitable lower limit for site selection of a radio quiet zone （RQZ）. We found that there is a certain trend in the population density-RFI graph that increases rapidly at lower values and slows down to almost fiat at higher values. We use this trend to identify the thresholds for pop- ulation density that produce RFI. Using this method we found that, for frequencies up to 2.8 GHz, low, medium and high population densities affecting radio astronomy are below 150 ppl km-2, between i50 ppl km-2 and 5125 ppl km-~, and above 5125 ppl km-2 respectively. We also investigate the effect of population density on the environment of RFI in three astronomical windows, namely the deuterium, hydro- gen and hydroxyl lines. We find that a polynomial fitting to the population density produces a similar trend, giving similar thresholds for the effect of population density. We then compare our interference values to the standard threshold levels used by the International Telecommunication Union within these astronomical windows.展开更多
基金Langkawi National Observatory,Space Science Research Unit,National Space Agency and East Coast Environmental Research Institute(ESERI)Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin under university grant(RACE/F1/ST1/UNISZA/15-RR118)
文摘Sky brightness is an essential topic in the field of astronomy, especially for optical astronom- ical observations that need very clear and dark sky conditions. This study presents the spatial model of sky brightness magnitude in Langkawi Island, Malaysia. Two types of Sky Quality Meter （SQM） manu- factured by Unihedron are used to measure the sky brightness on a moonless night （or when the Moon is below the horizon）, when the sky is cloudless and the locations are at least 100 m from the nearest light source. The selected locations are marked by their GPS coordinates. The sky brightness data obtained in this study were interpolated and analyzed using a Geographic Information System （GIS）, thus producing a spatial model of sky brightness that clearly shows the dark and bright sky areas in Langkawi Island. Surprisingly, our results show the existence of a few dark sites nearby areas of high human activity. The sky brightness of 21.45 mag arcsec-2 in the Johnson-Cousins V-band, as the average of sky brightness equivalent to 2.8 × 10-4cd m-2 over the entire island, is an indication that the island is, overall, still relatively dark. However, the amount of development taking place might reduce the number in the near future as the island is famous as a holiday destination.
基金made possible by the usage of the University of Malaya’s grants UMRG(RG118-10AFR),IPPP(PV025-2011A)and HIR(H-21001-F000028)Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin(UniSZA)and the Ministry of Higher Education(MOHE)for their sponsorship
文摘We investigate the influence of population density on radio-frequency inter- ference （RFI） affecting radio astronomy. We use a new method to quantify the thresh- old of population density in order to determine the most suitable lower limit for site selection of a radio quiet zone （RQZ）. We found that there is a certain trend in the population density-RFI graph that increases rapidly at lower values and slows down to almost fiat at higher values. We use this trend to identify the thresholds for pop- ulation density that produce RFI. Using this method we found that, for frequencies up to 2.8 GHz, low, medium and high population densities affecting radio astronomy are below 150 ppl km-2, between i50 ppl km-2 and 5125 ppl km-~, and above 5125 ppl km-2 respectively. We also investigate the effect of population density on the environment of RFI in three astronomical windows, namely the deuterium, hydro- gen and hydroxyl lines. We find that a polynomial fitting to the population density produces a similar trend, giving similar thresholds for the effect of population density. We then compare our interference values to the standard threshold levels used by the International Telecommunication Union within these astronomical windows.
