Angstrom Imaging Star Photometer

Angstrom, an imaging star photometer with simplified hardware, fills a gap in worldwide atmospheric data by providing estimates of aerosol optical depth. Solar and lunar photometers currently available on the market are expensive and complex, limiting their ability to characterize the atmosphere on a large scale. Even the most widespread sun photometers have a relatively small number of instruments and only sample data intermittently. Lunar and traditional star photometers, which can measure atmospheric conditions at night, are even rarer, in part because they require precision moving parts. Angstrom offers the potential to multiply the number of star photometers currently in use around the world. By performing star tracking without moving parts. Angstrom cuts out the need for complex hardware, enabling it to be deployed in hard-to-reach locations with minimal oversight. Broad adoption of Angstrom has the potential to create a worldwide, ground-based star photometer network.