Correlation of stellar scintillation in different photometric bands

Theoretical relations were obtained to calculate the correlation of stellar scintillation, when a star is measured simultaneously in two different photometric bands (channels). Differential color scintillation and the respective indices are proposed for practical evaluation of the correlation. Asymptotic dependence for the case of an infinitely small receiving aperture is derived and analyzed. The effect of atmospheric dispersion, which transforms the color differences into spatial differences, is examined. Additionally, the effect of the deviation of real optical turbulence from Kolmogorov turbulence is estimated. The obtained relations were compared with simultaneous measurements in three photometric bands and different receiving apertures in the range of 1 to 15 cm. It is shown that the measurements and calculated estimations of the color scintillation agree well. (C) 2011 Optical Society of America