Atmospheric turbulence profiling with the Multistar Turbulence Monitor

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ID: 313711
2026
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Ranked #266 of 908 articles by views in monthly notices of the royal astronomical society

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Abstract
Abstract Accurate characterization of atmospheric optical turbulence is essential for evaluating astronomical sites and optimizing adaptive optics systems. The Multistar Turbulence Monitor (MTM) infers the vertical distribution of the refractive-index structure constant $C_n^2(z)$ from differential image motion measured between multiple stellar pairs in short-exposure frames. We present a comprehensive investigation of the MTM method, combining theoretical analysis, instrument-performance assessment, numerical simulations, and on-sky observations obtained at the Daocheng Astronomical Site. Simulations based on a standard Hufnagel-Valley turbulence model demonstrate that the inversion pipeline robustly recovers both the integrated seeing and the vertical turbulence profile under realistic centroiding noise and varying pixel scales. The Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) inversion achieves stable results with thirteen discrete height nodes and provides reliable uncertainties. Three nights of MTM measurements at the Daocheng Astronomical Site show that MTM-derived seeing closely tracks simultaneous Differential Image Motion Monitor (DIMM) results, accurately reproducing both short-term fluctuations and nightly averages. These results confirm that MTM provides a simple, portable, and versatile solution for atmospheric turbulence profiling and routine seeing monitoring.
Reference Key
openalex_W7161159863 Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
Authors Weisen Huang, B Y Ma, Tengfei Song, Paul Hickson, ZH Shang, Xi Zhang, Mingyu Zhao, Qing Zhou
Journal monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Year 2026
DOI
10.1093/mnras/stag886
URL
https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stag886
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