Modeling of differential color refraction and its applications in astrometry

Abstract

This article focuses on the determination of differential color refraction (DCR) in the atmosphere with clear filter observations. Experimental observations using the <sc>80 cm</sc> telescope at the Yao’an Observational site of Purple Mountain Observatory have shown that tracking and taking CCD frames for the same stars within a large hour-angle range (4–5 h) before and after the meridian, and using the theoretical position of the Gaia catalog (Gaia DR3), can accurately and precisely determine the effect of DCR with an error of 0.004 arcsec/<italic>z</italic><sub><italic>x</italic></sub>. The CCD observations of two natural satellites (Himalia and Phoebe) during the same period of time show that after correcting DCR effect, the positioning accuracy and precision of the clear filter observations are greatly improved and these results are well-consistent with those when using a Johnson Cousin I filter during the same period. For instance, the positional precision of Himalia was improved from 0′′.07 to 0′′.01 in right ascension. In addition, it was found that using a clear filter with a shorter exposure time can derive higher positioning precision than using an I filter with a longer exposure time. These new discoveries will have an important impact on the precise measurement of the positions of faint celestial bodies by ground-based optical telescopes, and an important impact on some survey observations of some big telescopes.

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