Evaluation of Lijiang Gaomeigu site for astrophysical observation

Abstract

The work on the site testing at the Gaomeigu village Lijiang country in the northwest of Yunnan province, was started in 1994 after the completion of the investigation on optical astronomical observatory site survey over Yunnan Province. From six years of systematic study of astro-climate conditions, the average seeing is found to be about 0.9 arcsec from 32636 DIMM observations of 426 nights. The number of useful nights is more than 200. The sky brightness and the extinction coefficients are acceptable and the climate conditions are suitable for an astrophysical observational station. A 2.4m and some 1-m class telescopes will be installed here in the coming years.