Astronomical Observing Conditions at Xinglong Observatory from 2007 to 2014

作者：Jicheng Zhang, Ge Liang, Xiaomeng Lü, Zihuang Cao, Chen Xu, Yongna Mao, Xiaojun Jiang · 发表于：Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific · 年份：2015 · DOI：10.1086/684369 · 被引用次数：41 · 研究领域：Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies、Adaptive optics and wavefront sensing、Astronomy and Astrophysical Research

Xinglong Observatory of the National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC), is one of the major optical observatories in China, which hosts nine optical telescopes including the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) and the 2.16 m reflector. Scientific research from these telescopes is focused on stars, galaxies, and exoplanets using multicolor photometry and spectroscopic observations. Therefore, it is important to provide the observing conditions of the site, in detail, to the astronomers for an efficient use of these facilities. In this article, we present the characterization of observing conditions at Xinglong Observatory based on the monitoring of meteorology, seeing and sky brightness during the period from 2007 to 2014. Meteorological data were collected from a commercial Automatic Weather Station (AWS), calibrated by China Meteorological Administration. Mean and median wind speed are almost constant during the period analyzed and ranged from 1.0 to 3.5 m s -1 . However, high wind speed (≥15 m s -1 ) interrupts observations, mainly, during the winter and spring. Statistical analysis of air temperature showed the temperature difference between daytime and nighttime, which can be solved by opening the ventilation device and the slit of the dome at least 1 hr before observations. Analysis resulted in average percentage of photometric nights and spectroscopic nights are 32% and 63% per year, respectively. The distribut...