antarctic astronomy emeritus professor john storey image: john storey
TRANSCRIPT
Antarctic astronomy
Emeritus Professor John Storey
Image: John Storey
In a nutshell…
• It’s very cold
• It’s very dry
• The atmosphere is very stable
• Antarctica is the only place on earth set aside for science by international treaty
Image: Daniel Luong-van
Typical twilight spectra at Dome A and Paranal
Sims et al., 2012a
QuickTime™ and a decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Craig Kulesa, 2013
Ridge AMedian: 130 micronsBest 10%: 60 microns
Ridge A. Top to bottom: dry-air only, best 10 percentile, best 25 percentile, median winter transmission.
H2D+ [O III] [O I][C II][N II]
Sims et al., 2012
Deployment to Antarctica is one thousand times cheaper than space
($10/kg versus $10,000/kg)
Image: John Storey Image: ESA
Contour map of Antarctica
USGS imageMcMurdo
Contour map of Antarctica
USGS image
South Pole
The US Amundsen-Scott South Pole station…
Image: Michael Ashley
…with modern, well-equipped laboratories
Image: Michael Ashley
Image: Daniel Luong-Van
The South Pole Telescope (SPT)
The IceCube laboratory
Image: Michael Ashley
Contour map of Antarctica
USGS image
Dome C
Concordia is a French/Italian station operating year-round from 2005 at Dome C.
• Typically 12 ~ 16 people over winter• Astronomy is one of the key science drivers for the station
Image: John Storey
Absil et al, 2007
Modular sections built into shipping containers.
Image: Mark Swain
Antarctic Planet Interferometer phase 1 instrument concept
Contour map of Antarctica
USGS image
Dome F
Dome F, a Japanese station
Images: Hirofumi Okita
Iridium OpenPort
Image: Hirofumi Okita
Contour map of Antarctica
USGS image
Dome A
The Chinese have a major development program at Kunlun station, Dome A
Image: Zhu Zhenxi
Images: NIAOT
KDUST: 2.5 - 4 m optical/IR telecsope
Where is the driest site on earth?
Sims et al, 2012
AIRS/Aqua
MHS/NOAA-18
Both are median winter PWV
Contour map of Antarctica
USGS image
Ridge A
PLATO-R, a field deployable observatory
Image: Luke Bycroft
We built a new, international station at a place we called Ridge A.
Image: Craig Kulesa
Craig Kulesa, U. of Arizona
Image: FIRI team
Image: FIRI team
4 km baseline
SCAR AAA
Image: Craig Kulesa
Astronomy and Astrophysics from Antarctica
See our booth at the IAU meeting in Hawaii next week!