Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Abstract
| Download to reference manager | Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Volume 318 Issue 1 Page 139 - October 2000 doi:10.1046/j.1365-8711.2000.03699.x | | | A laser beacon for monitoring the mesospheric sodium layer at La Palma | L. Michaille,1 A. D. Cañas,1 J. C. Dainty,1 J. Maxwell,1 T. Gregory,2 J. C. Quartel,1 F. C. Reavell,1 R. W. Wilson3 and N. J. Wooder11Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College, London SW7 2BZ2Isaac Newton Group, Apartado 321, 38780 Santa Cruz de la Palma, Canary Islands, Spain3ATC, Astrophysics Group, Cavendish Laboratory, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HE | We
report the results of the first laser beacon experiment at the
astronomical site of La Palma (Canary Islands). A continuous wave low power laser (a few hundred mW) system has been set up. The laser, tuned on the sodium D2
line at 589 nm, is launched close to the zenith angle. The
emission of the mesospheric sodium layer is observed from a telescope
located 160 m away from the laser. The layer is therefore resolved
in altitude and the different features of its dynamics are investigated. | |  | | |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
| |
| | Accepted 2000 May 9. Received 2000 May 3; in original form 2000 March 2 | | Affiliations | 1Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College, London SW7 2BZ2Isaac Newton Group, Apartado 321, 38780 Santa Cruz de la Palma, Canary Islands, Spain3ATC, Astrophysics Group, Cavendish Laboratory, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HE | | Correspondence | E mail: lmichail@ic.ac.uk | To cite this article Michaille,
L., Cañas, A. D., Dainty, J. C., Maxwell, J., Gregory, T., Quartel, J.
C., Reavell, F. C., Wilson, R. W. & Wooder, N. J. (2000) A laser beacon for monitoring the mesospheric sodium layer at La Palma. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 318 (1), 139-144. doi: 10.1046/ j.1365-8711.2000.03699.x |
|
|