Week 6 Log

July 6th - July 10th

I spent most of the week analyzing data from previous measurements and preparing for the midterm presentation. The instrumentation also yielded a number of challenges. In particular, the equatorial mount for the Sprectro-Polarimeter project stopped working. It was not until Thursday that I was able to find the problem and correct it. The problem was an improper connection between the power cable and the mount power source.

Despite the problems with the equatorial mount and preparations for the midterm presentations, I identified an interesting comparison between measurements on June 23rd and July 2nd. Both of these days use the same integration time (136 ms) and gain settings (10 for both SWIR1 and SWIR2 detectors).

Observable in the two graphs above are notable differences between clear and hazy days. Specifically, I would like to emphasis the increased measurements in the SWIR for the hazy day. This is consistent with expected results. More light is scattered throughout the sky as a result of an increase in aerosols (such as smoke) in the atmosphere.

One of the challenges that has not yet been corrected is the orientation of the equatorial mount. Therefore, comparisons of each of the 0, 45, 90, and 135 orientations of the polarizer between these two graphs are trivial.

As for the Solar Radiometer project, I finished fabricating the housing unit. The completed Solar Radiometer is below.