Abstract
The Zernike power spectra of the all-sky night brightness distributions of clear and cloudy nights are computed using a modal projection approach. The results obtained in the B, V, and R Johnson–Cousins’ photometric bands during a one-year campaign of observations at a light-polluted urban site show that these spectra can be described by simple power laws with exponents close to for clear nights and for cloudy ones. The second-moment matrices of the Zernike coefficients show relevant correlations between modes. The multiplicative role of the cloud cover, that contributes to a significant increase of the brightness of the urban night sky in comparison with the values obtained on clear nights, is described in the Zernike space.
© 2015 Optical Society of America
Full Article | PDF ArticleMore Like This
Salvador Bará, Miguel Nievas, Alejandro Sánchez de Miguel, and Jaime Zamorano
Appl. Opt. 53(12) 2677-2686 (2014)
Miroslav Kocifaj
Appl. Opt. 46(15) 3013-3022 (2007)
Stanley David Gedzelman
Appl. Opt. 44(27) 5723-5736 (2005)