San Pedro Mártir: astronomical site evaluation

Irene Cruz-Gonzales; Remy Avila; Mario Tapia; Fernando Angeles; Esperanza Carrasco; Rodolphe Conan; Rafael Costero; D. X. Cruz; Salvador Cuevas; J. Echevarria; Fernando Garfias; S. I. Gonzalez; Leonel Gutierrez; Oswaldo N. Harris; D. Hiriart; F. Ibanez; Luis Artemio Martinez; Elena Masciadri; Raul M. Michel; Valeri G. Orlov; L. Parrao; Beatriz Sanchez; Leonardo J. Sanchez; Marc S. Sarazin; W. J. Schuster; Valeri V. Voitsekhovich; A. Agabi; Max Azouit; Julien Borgnino; Francois Martin; Jean Vernin; Aziz Ziad

doi:10.1117/12.566347

7 July 2004 San Pedro Mártir: astronomical site evaluation

Irene Cruz-Gonzales, Remy Avila, Mario Tapia, Fernando Angeles, Esperanza Carrasco, Rodolphe Conan, Rafael Costero, D. X. Cruz, Salvador Cuevas, J. Echevarria, Fernando Garfias, S. I. Gonzalez, Leonel Gutierrez, Oswaldo N. Harris, D. Hiriart, F. Ibanez, Luis Artemio Martinez, Elena Masciadri, Raul M. Michel, Valeri G. Orlov, L. Parrao, Beatriz Sanchez, Leonardo J. Sanchez, Marc S. Sarazin, W. J. Schuster, Valeri V. Voitsekhovich, A. Agabi, Max Azouit, Julien Borgnino, Francois Martin, Jean Vernin, Aziz Ziad

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 5382, Second Backaskog Workshop on Extremely Large Telescopes; (2004) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.566347
Event: Second Backaskog Workshop on Extremely Large Telescopes, 2003, Backaskog, Sweden

Abstract

The Observatorio Astronomico Nacional at San Pedro Martir is situated on the summit of the San Pedro Martir Sierra in the Baja California peninsula of Mexico, at 2800m above sea level. For as long as three decades, a number of groups and individuals have gathered extremely valuable data leading to the site characterization for astronomical observations. Here we present a summary of the most important results obtained so far. The aspects covered are: weather, cloud coverage, local meteorology, atmospheric optical extinction, millimetric opacity, geotechnical studies, seeing, optical turbulence profiles, wind profiles and 3D simulations of atmospheric turbulence. The results place San Pedro Martir among the most favorable sites in the world for astronomical observations. It seems to be particularly well-suited for extremely large telescopes because of the excellent turbulence and local wind conditions, to mention but two characteristics. Long-term monitoring of some parameters still have to be undertaken. The National University of Mexico (UNAM) and other international institutions are putting a considerable effort in that sense.

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Irene Cruz-Gonzales, Remy Avila, Mario Tapia, Fernando Angeles, Esperanza Carrasco, Rodolphe Conan, Rafael Costero, D. X. Cruz, Salvador Cuevas, J. Echevarria, Fernando Garfias, S. I. Gonzalez, Leonel Gutierrez, Oswaldo N. Harris, D. Hiriart, F. Ibanez, Luis Artemio Martinez, Elena Masciadri, Raul M. Michel, Valeri G. Orlov, L. Parrao, Beatriz Sanchez, Leonardo J. Sanchez, Marc S. Sarazin, W. J. Schuster, Valeri V. Voitsekhovich, A. Agabi, Max Azouit, Julien Borgnino, Francois Martin, Jean Vernin, and Aziz Ziad "San Pedro Mártir: astronomical site evaluation", Proc. SPIE 5382, Second Backaskog Workshop on Extremely Large Telescopes, (7 July 2004); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.566347

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