Scintillation at two optical frequencies

Abstract

Stellar scintillation data were obtained on a single night at a variety of zenith distances and azimuths, using a photon-counting photometer recording at 100 Hz simultaneously at wavelengths of 0.475 microm and 0.870 microm. Orientable apertures of 42-cm diam separated by 1 m were used to establish the average upper atmosphere wind direction and velocity. Dispersion in the earth's atmosphere separate the average optical paths at the two wavelengths, permitting a reconstruction of the spatial cross-correlation function for scintillations, independent of assumptions about differential fluid motions. Although there is clear evidence of a complicated velocity field, scintillation power was predominantly produced by levels at pressures of 130 +/- 30 mbar. The data are not grossly inconsistent with layers of isotropic Kolmogorov turbulence, but there is some evidence for deviation from the Kolmogorov spectral index and/or anisotropy.