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Observing conditions

Part of the network activities of the OPTICON contract includes `Site Characterization' of the Teide observatory and the ORM, concerning things like meteo data, seeing measurements, extinction measurements, etc. The idea is to combine and expand the data from all the different observatories at the sites, which can be of great interest and benefit to all. The project is run by the IAC, but at the moment there is no clear plan available. However, we hope that this project can be developed properly in the coming months.

In parallel, discussion are currently going on about the possible installation at the NOT of a dust meter owned by the IAC. Although the details of operations are not clear, the idea is to get continuous measurements in computer readable form. Together with the throughput measurements provided by the calibration plans and the reflectivity measurements of the mirrors this can provide very interesting data about the effect of dust and the usefulness of cleaning the mirrors with $CO_2$, or washing them.



Thomas Augusteijn 2005-10-27