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Celestial polarization patterns during twilight

Cronin, Thomas W. ; Warrant, Eric LU orcid and Greiner, Birgit LU (2006) In Applied Optics 45(22). p.5582-5589
Abstract
Scattering of sunlight produces patterns of partially linearly polarized light in the sky throughout the day, and similar patterns appear at night when the Moon is bright. We studied celestial polarization patterns during the period of twilight, when the Sun is below the horizon, determining the degree and orientation of the polarized-light field and its changes before sunrise and after sunset. During twilight, celestial polarized light occurs in a wide band stretching perpendicular to the location of the hidden Sun and reaching typical degrees of polarization near 80% at wavelengths >600 nm. In the tropics, this pattern appears similar to 1 h before local sunrise or disappears similar to 1 h after local sunset (within 10 min after the... (More)
Scattering of sunlight produces patterns of partially linearly polarized light in the sky throughout the day, and similar patterns appear at night when the Moon is bright. We studied celestial polarization patterns during the period of twilight, when the Sun is below the horizon, determining the degree and orientation of the polarized-light field and its changes before sunrise and after sunset. During twilight, celestial polarized light occurs in a wide band stretching perpendicular to the location of the hidden Sun and reaching typical degrees of polarization near 80% at wavelengths >600 nm. In the tropics, this pattern appears similar to 1 h before local sunrise or disappears similar to 1 h after local sunset (within 10 min after the onset of astronomical twilight at dawn, or before its end at dusk) and extends with little change through the entire twilight period. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Applied Optics
volume
45
issue
22
pages
5582 - 5589
publisher
Optical Society of America
external identifiers
  • pmid:16855654
  • wos:000239411400012
  • scopus:33749832285
ISSN
2155-3165
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
9fd7f345-17b7-42e9-87f6-b4f670bcbc0b (old id 399660)
alternative location
http://www.opticsinfobase.org/abstract.cfm?URI=ao-45-22-5582
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 12:15:07
date last changed
2022-01-27 01:00:56
@article{9fd7f345-17b7-42e9-87f6-b4f670bcbc0b,
  abstract     = {{Scattering of sunlight produces patterns of partially linearly polarized light in the sky throughout the day, and similar patterns appear at night when the Moon is bright. We studied celestial polarization patterns during the period of twilight, when the Sun is below the horizon, determining the degree and orientation of the polarized-light field and its changes before sunrise and after sunset. During twilight, celestial polarized light occurs in a wide band stretching perpendicular to the location of the hidden Sun and reaching typical degrees of polarization near 80% at wavelengths >600 nm. In the tropics, this pattern appears similar to 1 h before local sunrise or disappears similar to 1 h after local sunset (within 10 min after the onset of astronomical twilight at dawn, or before its end at dusk) and extends with little change through the entire twilight period.}},
  author       = {{Cronin, Thomas W. and Warrant, Eric and Greiner, Birgit}},
  issn         = {{2155-3165}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{22}},
  pages        = {{5582--5589}},
  publisher    = {{Optical Society of America}},
  series       = {{Applied Optics}},
  title        = {{Celestial polarization patterns during twilight}},
  url          = {{http://www.opticsinfobase.org/abstract.cfm?URI=ao-45-22-5582}},
  volume       = {{45}},
  year         = {{2006}},
}