Sky Brightness Evaluation at Concordia Station, Dome C, Antarctica, for Ground-Based Observations of the Solar Corona

Abstract

The evaluation of sky characteristics plays a fundamental role for many astrophysical experiments and ground-based observations. In solar physics, the main requirement for such observations is a very low sky brightness value, less than 10^{-6} of the solar disk brightness (mathrm{B}_{odot }). Few places match such a requirement for ground-based, out-of-eclipse coronagraphic measurements. One of these places is, for instance, the Mauna Loa Observatory (approx 3400~mbox{m} a.s.l.). Another candidate coronagraphic site is the Dome C plateau in Antarctica. In this article, we show the first results of the sky brightness measurements at Dome C with the Extreme Solar Coronagraphy Antarctic Program Experiment (ESCAPE) at the Italian–French Concordia Station, on Dome C, Antarctica (approx 3300~mbox{m} a.s.l.) during the 34th and 35th summer Campaigns of the Italian Piano Nazionale Ricerche Antartiche (PNRA). The sky brightness measurements were carried out with the internally occulted Antarctic coronagraph AntarctiCor. In optimal atmospheric conditions the sky brightness of Dome C has reached values of the order of 1.0 – 0.7 times 10^{-6}~mathrm{B}_{odot }.