New analysis of the fraction of observable nights at astronomical sites based on FengYun-2 satellite data

Abstract

ABSTRACT The fraction of observable nights is an essential parameter for selecting astronomical sites. In recent years, meteorological satellite data have played an essential role in recognizing and providing statistics of observable nights. We present a method to estimate the fraction of observable nights based on the FengYun-2 series of geostationary meteorological satellites and weather records of multiple astronomical sites. We have calculated the fraction of observable nights at 27 sites in Indonesia and two astronomical sites in China to validate the method. The results derived from our method show good agreement with previous works. Furthermore, we have derived the yearly distribution of the fraction of observable nights above China, which indicates that the area near 40°N has more observable nights than other areas in China.