Bibcode
Rodriguez-Espinosa, J. M.; Kidger, M.; del Rosario, J. C.; Trancho, G.
Bibliographical reference
American Astronomical Society, 191st AAS Meeting, #57.04; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 29, p.1305
Advertised on:
12
1997
Citations
0
Refereed citations
0
Description
We present the first results from a long-term campaign of water vapor
monitoring at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (Canary Islands,
Spain). This observatory is situated on a volcanic peak, on the small
island of La Palma. Although its altitude is relatively low (2400
meters), our initial site-testing, taken for site selection for the
Spanish 10m telescope project, shows that a significant fraction of
nights have water vapor column of 1mm, or lower, with values of 2mm and
lower being relatively common, even in summer. The water vapor column
can be stable at under 1mm for several nights, with only minimal
variations. We contrast the results obtained using an infrared
radiometer (on loan from Kitt Peak National Observatory), with those
obtained using the 940nm water vapor line and comment briefly on plans
for future automatic monitoring of water vapor at the observatory.