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T: Fachverband Teilchenphysik
T 83: Gamma-Astronomie 2
T 83.8: Talk
Tuesday, March 10, 2009, 18:35–18:50, M218
Studies of the influence of moonlight on observations with MAGIC — •Daniel Britzger1,2, Emiliano Carmona1, Pratik Majumdar3, Julian Sitarek1,4, and Robert Wagner1,5 — 1Max-Planck-Institut für Physik, D-80805 München, Germany — 2Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, D-80539 München, Germany — 3Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), D-15738 Zeuthen, Germany — 4University of Łodz, PL-90236 Łodz, Poland — 5Excellence Cluster "Universe", D-85748 Garching, Germany
The Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Technique is currently the most powerful ground-based observation method for very high energy cosmic gamma rays. With its special designed camera and readout system, the MAGIC Telescope with its 17m dish, is capable of observing also during nights with comparatively high night-sky background light, as e.g. during moonlight. This enables an approx. 30% extended observation time of up to 1500h per year and further allows operation during twilight, which increases the chances to catch fast transients, e.g. blazar flares. However, the increased night-sky background influences the data acquisition and may deserve special treatment in the data analysis chain. Here we present studies of the influence of the moonlight intensity on the sensitivity of MAGIC.