METHOD OF MEASURING VERTICAL PROFILES OF AIR REFRACTION INDEX FOR CORRECTION OF SOLAR IMAGES Russian patent published in 2020 - IPC G01W1/00 G01N21/17 G01J9/00 

FIELD: measurement technology.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to astronomical observations with high spatial resolution and can be used for remote determination of vertical profiles of air refraction index. Measurement of the characteristic of the refraction index of air is carried out based on the space-time cross-correlation function of local inclinations of wave fronts from one object of the solar image, which is shifted by means of the daily rotation of the Earth at certain angles to each of subsequent instants of time. Local inclinations of wave fronts on a solar image in crossed optical beams are measured. Air C refraction index characteristic profile is determined from the following expression:

where C (δi, δj, δt) is the space-time cross-correlation function of local inclination of wave fronts, A₁(δi, δj, δt) is a cross-correlation function, δi and δj - distances between sub-apertures, δi and δj - distances between sub-apertures (sections on telescope aperture), indices i, j denote positions of subapertures on aperture along arbitrarily selected orthogonal coordinate axes, δt is the time interval between readings, F is the Fourier transform sign, is the inverse Fourier transform sign, K is a matrix weight function, having dimension m^-2/3, determination of matrix weight function is performed based on data of integral values of amplitude of distortion of wave front, height of atmospheric layers are determined by formulas where α is the zenith angle of the Sun.

EFFECT: high spatial resolution and wider field of applicability.

1 cl, 3 dwg