Impact of the Atmospheric Refraction on the Precise Astrometry with Adaptive Optics in Infrared

Context. We study the impact of the atmospheric differential chromatic refraction on the measurements and precision of relative astrometry. Specifically, we address the problem of measuring the separations of close pairs of binary stars with adaptive optics in the J and K bands. Aims. We investigate the influence of weather conditions, zenithal distance, star’s spectral type and observing wavelength on the astrometric precision and determine the accuracy of these parameters that is necessary to detect exoplanets with existing and planned large ground based telescopes with adaptive optics facilities. Methods. The analytical formulae for simple monochromatic refraction and a full approach, as well as moderately simplified procedure, are used to compute refraction corrections under a variety of observing conditions. Results. It is shown that the atmospheric refraction must be taken into account in astrometric studies but the full procedure is not neccessary in many cases. Requirements for achieving a certain astrometric precision are specified.