ASTMON-UCM maps the night sky brightness of the visible sky.

The collected data are useful to establish the quality of the sky and the evolution of its brightness due to the effects of the Light Pollution in Madrid.

Instrument description

AstMon-UCM (All Sky Transmission MONitor) is an all-sky camera devoted to measure the astronomical quelity of the night sky. This device belongs to the astronomical observatory of the UCM (Observatorio UCM) on top of the Physics building. Images in B, V and R bands of the Johnson system taken by AstMon-UCM are used to determine atmospheric extinction and to map the night sky brightness.

Recording light pollution in Madrid

Located at UCM Observatory

AstMON-UCM is located on top of the Facultad de Ciencias Físicas of Universidad Complutense de Madrid. It is the first device of its type installed in an urban observatory and it is useful to study the effects of Light Pollution on the night sky brightness.

AstMON-UCM light pollution

AstMon-UCM can be used for both research and creativity. The following image was obtained from three images taken with filters B, V and R filters.

These images were combined with Iris software in one BGR image and a panoramic view was generated using the fisheye tool. The image allows to identify the main light pollution sources that affect the instrument.

Different results along the night and depending on weather

All-sky cameras to study light pollution

Check our publications

The study of light pollution is one of the most innovative research topics. Our group has published several papers with the greatest impact on the Altmetric index worldwide.

Contact

Professor Jaime Zamorano:
jzamorano@fis.ucm.es

Location:
Facultad de Ciencias Físicas UCM

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