Dome Argus Will House a Telescope
05.02.2008 - Other
For the second time in history, an expedition team has reached the summit of Antarctica at "Dome A". The purpose of this ascension was to install a revolutionary and fully automated astronomical observatory up on the Antarctic plateau.
The PLATeau Observatory or PLATO will allow unique observations to take place, nearing the image quality achieved from space. "Unlike the stormy Antarctic coast, the plateau is a very quiet place with very low wind speed. It is the coldest and driest place on Earth. These are critical conditions of a good site on which to build an observatory," explains Dr. Lifan Wang, one of the leaders of the scientific planning phase of the expedition, professor in Physics at Texas A&M University and head of the Chinese Center for Antarctic Astronomy.
A total of seven telescopes will take ground-based images of the sky: four from China, who will be building a permanent station at Dome A over the next few years, two from Caltech and one from the University of Arizona and the University of Exeter. The observatory will also have instruments such as sky darkness measuring cameras, acoustic radars to measure the atmospheric turbulence and a monitor to allow very short microwave astronomy.
Destined to be able to operate autonomously for up to 12 months, the observatory will be equipped with solar panels to power the observatory during the summer and high-efficiency diesel engines for the winter months. Data will be sent back via the Iridium satellite network.
