Abstract
A large number of clear nights at a given location is one of the key prerequisites for establishing an astronomical observatory. This parameter needs to be reliably determined before the site location is finalized. For an already exiting observatory site, monitoring of clouds on real-time basis helps automating many observing procedures, thus optimizing the scientific returns from the facility. We have developed an infrared (IR) scanning cloud monitor which generates a local sky-map and provides reliable information about the changing sky conditions. Our device measures the IR sky brightness temperature using a circular array of thermopile sensors mounted on a rotating system. In this paper, we give a detailed description of the instrument hardware, laboratory and on-site calibration procedures and further tests carried out to check the reliability of the device. The cloud monitor has been in regular use since its installation at the Indian Astronomical Observation (IAO), Hanle, Ladakh in 2015 December. We also present the analysis of a year long sky data to demonstrate the usefulness of the device.
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