The GATTINI-DomeA Project
The percentage and duration of dark time for optical astronomy is a critical value for ascertaining the quality of Dome A as a site for future optical observatory. The GATTINI instrument consists of two cameras for the measurement of optical sky brightness, detection of bright aurora, cloud cover, and variability of airglow of the winter sky above Dome A. The cameras are located on the roof of PLATO and point towards the South Pole, taking images of the night sky every few minutes. One camera, called "Gattini All Sky", takes wide field images (90°) using several filters including a long pass red filter for the detection of airglow. The second camera, called "Gattini-SBC", has a larger aperture and narrower field of view and will monitor the sky brightness in a range of the Sloan survey filter bands.
Gattini being installed at Dome A (Xu Zhou and Zhenxi Zhu: Jan 2008)
The Gattini cameras are mounted to the roof of the autonomous PLATO laboratory and point towards the South Pole. The cameras will take images of the winter time sky above the Dome A site with a frequency of a few minutes. The PreHeat and DASLE experiments are also shown in the picture.
Gattini-Dome A fabrication team
| C. Kulesa | Steward Observatory |
| A. Moore | Caltech Optical Observatories (PI) |
| R. Riddle | TMT (co-PI) |
| W. Saunders | AAO |
| N. Tothill | Uni Exeter (co-PI) |
| T. Travouillon | Caltech (co-PI) |
| Z. Zhenxi | Purple Mountain Observatory |
| G. Allen | Solar Mobility Pty.Ltd. |
Gattini-Dome A financial contributions
| National Science Foundation | SGER Astronomy/OPP |
| Apogee CCDs Inc. | Sacramento, CA |
| C. Beichman | JPL/MSC |
| P. Espy | BAS |
| N. Suntzeff | Texas A&M |