The knowledge of both the long-term characteristics of the atmosphere and of its immediate state is of vital importance for the study of extensive air showers. The F/Photometric Robotic Atmospheric Monitor (FRAM), installed at the Pierre Auger Observatory, is an autonomously operating instrument which measures the integral light extinction in a given direction using stellar photometry. Its primary purpose is the rapid observation of atmospheric conditions soon after the fluorescence detectors of the Observatory have recorded a particularly interesting shower. This information is crucial for the study of showers with anomalous longitudinal profiles, which are predicted by hadronic interaction models but whose observation can also arise as a consequence of the presence of clouds or aerosol layers. The current status of the analysis is presented. In addition to the primary function of the FRAM, the integral aerosol content can be obtained by utilizing the large number of stars identified in the wide-field images of the instrument. The method for this is also briefly described.