Experimental and theoretical studies of the aureole about a point source that is due to atmospheric scattering in the middle ultraviolet

Abstract
In the atmosphere, pointlike sources are surrounded by aureoles because of molecular and aerosol scattering. In various meteorological conditions, this variance field can be a nonnegligible part of the signal detected by a large-field-of-view sensor. A model based on a Monte Carlo technique has been developed to simulate the propagation of radiation coming from a UV point source. The model was validated with an experimental comparison by a photon-counting technique, and good agreement between experimental and theoretical results was found.