Extinction and scattering parameters derived from sky brightness measurements

Abstract

In this study, the moonlit sky brightness model that incorporates extinction and scattering parameters were fitted to the observational data obtained at four locations across Indonesia namely Biak, Garut, Pasuruan and Sumedang. Possible parameters were sampled using Markov Chain Monte Carlo to construct posterior distributions of corresponding parameters. The typical values of extinction parameter are below 0.5 except for Pasuruan whose value almost reaches unity. Atmospheric scattering is represented by Rayleigh scattering factors with values of around 1.0 and Mie scattering factors which are an order magnitude higher than Rayleigh scattering factors. The results indicate that the tropical atmosphere of Indonesia tends to be more turbid than the atmosphere at higher latitudes though more studies are required to confirm this indication.