Atmospheric Scintillation Measurements.

Atmospheric Scintillation Measurements.

Most astronomical observations, even with digital imaging devices, use long integration times to improve the signal to noise ratio. However atmospheric disturbances take place at a much shorter time scale which smears out the image. This project will be about adapting relatively fast CCD imaging devices to measure the characteristics of such atmospheric disturbance, both in the upper atmosphere, and along a horizontal terrestrial path, with a view to the specification of adaptive optics that would allow the range and accuracy of terrestrial and astronomical telescopes to be improved. This project will run in parallel with a related project in Applied Physics. The telescopes have been purchased with the support of the Teaching and Learning Committee.