Aerosol Measurement in B, V, and R Filters using Wide-field Photometry

TL;DR

This paper extends a stellar photometry method for aerosol measurement from B-filter data to V and R filters using Gaia catalog, revealing wavelength-dependent aerosol optical depth variations and complex extinction behaviors.

Contribution

It introduces an extended method for aerosol optical depth measurement in V and R filters, utilizing Gaia data, and analyzes wavelength-dependent extinction characteristics.

Findings

VAOD varies non-monotonically across B, V, R filters.

Shorter wavelengths exhibit higher atmospheric extinction.

Photometric method dependence increases in V and R filters.

Abstract

The new method for aerosol measurement using wide-field stellar photometry was originally developed for B-filter data. The dependence of VAOD (vertical aerosol optical depth) on wavelength can be used to understand the physical characteristics of aerosol. The method has been extended for V and R filters using the Gaia stellar photometric catalog as the reference. We calculated the coefficients of the equation describing molecular and aerosol extinction of the atmosphere. For data in a particular filter, they depend on the telescope's location. Light towards shorter wavelengths has higher extinction. The VAOD, calculated in B, V, and R filters does not show monotonous dependence on wavelength, and there is increased dependence on the photometric methods for V and R filters. We studied the possible reasons for this unexpected behavior.