Related papers: Astronomy in Antarctica
Dome A in Antarctica has been demonstrated to be the best site on earth for optical, infrared, and terahertz astronomical observations by more and more evidence, such as excellent free-atmosphere seeing, extremely low perceptible water…
Antarctica offers unique conditions for ground-based observations, such as low sky background in the infrared, improved seeing, and low turbulence and scintillation noise. These properties are particularly beneficial to imaging, precision…
The Antarctic plateau contains the best sites on earth for many forms of astronomy, but none of the existing bases was selected with astronomy as the primary motivation. In this article, we try to systematically compare the merits of…
Preliminary site testing datasets suggest that Dome C in Antarctica is one of the best sites on Earth for astronomical observations in the 200 to 500 micron regime, i.e. for far-infrared (FIR) and submillimetre (submm) astronomy. We present…
Over the past few years a major effort has been put into the exploration of potential sites for the deployment of submillimetre astronomical facilities. Amongst the most important sites are Dome C and Dome A on the Antarctic Plateau, and…
Due to the recent interest shown by astronomers towards the Antarctic Plateau as a potential site for large astronomical facilities, we assisted in the last years to a strengthening of site testing activities in this region, particularly at…
The low infrared background and high atmospheric transparency are the principal advantages of Antarctic Plateau sites for astronomy. However, the poor seeing (between one and three arcseconds) negates much of the sensitivity improvements…
At an altitude of 3250m and at a latitude of $75^\circ$S, the Italo-French Concordia station was open to winter-over teams in 2005. It is one of the high points of the Antarctic polar plateau. These extreme remote sites are expected to…
We examine the historical development of astrophysical science in Antarctica from the early 20th century until today. We find three temporally overlapping eras, each having a rather distinct beginning. These are the astrogeological era of…
The internal antarctic plateau revealed in the last years to be a site with interesting potentialities for the astronomical applications due to the extreme dryness and low temperatures, the typical high altitude of the plateau, the weak…
The cold, dry and stable air above the summits of the Antarctic plateau provides the best ground-based observing conditions from optical to sub-mm wavelengths to be found on the Earth. PILOT is a proposed 2 m telescope, to be built at Dome…
The summit of the Antarctic plateau, Dome A, is proving to be an excellent site for optical, NIR, and THz astronomical observations. GATTINI was a wide-field camera installed on the PLATO instrument module as part of the Chinese-led…
Preliminary site testing at Dome C (Antarctica) is presented, using both Automatic Weather Station (AWS) meteorological data (1986-1993) and Precipitable Water Vapor (PWV) measurements made by the authors. A comparison with South Pole and…
Consistently superb observing conditions are crucial for achieving the scientific objectives of a telescope. Submillimeter astronomy is possible only at a few exceptionally dry sites, notably Mauna Kea, the Antarctic plateau, and the…
Dome A, the highest plateau in Antarctica, is being developed as a site for an astronomical observatory. The planned telescopes and instrumentation and the unique site characteristics are conducive toward Type Ia supernova surveys for…
From the South Pole, microthermal turbulence within a narrow surface boundary layer some 200m thick provides the dominant contribution to the astronomical seeing. We present results for the seeing at a wavelength of 2.4um. The narrow…
Observation of the CMB is central to observational cosmology, and the Antarctic Plateau is an exceptionally good site for this work. The first attempt at CMB observations from the Plateau was an expedition to the South Pole in December 1986…
Due to its location and climate, Antarctica offers unique conditions for long-period observations across a broad wavelength regime, where important diagnostic lines for molecules and ions can be found, that are essential to understand the…
ICE-T (International Concordia Explorer Telescope) is a double 60 cm f/1.1 photometric robotic telescope, on a parallactic mount, which will operate at Dome C, in the long Antarctic night, aiming to investigate exoplanets and activity of…
The geographic South Pole provides unique opportunities to study cosmic particles in the Southern Hemisphere. It represents an optimal location to deploy large-scale neutrino telescopes in the deep Antarctic ice, such as AMANDA or IceCube.…