Antartica鈥檚 cold, clear skies make the continent one of the world鈥檚
best viewpoints for astronomers. As a first step in ambitious plans to build
an international observatory in east Antarctica, the US Nat ional Science
Foundation has decided to build three telescopes at its Scott-Amundsen South
Pole base.
鈥楾here is no place on the surface of the Earth that is better than the
Antarctic plateau for our type of astronomy,鈥� says Al Harper, of the University
of Chicago, who will direct the new centre for astrophysical research. Antarctica
is attractive to astronomers because the frigid air contains little of the
water vapour that blocks parts of the infrared and submillimetre spectrum
elsewhere.
The centre will operate the 1.7-metre Antarctic Submillimetre Telescope/Remote
Observatory being built by Boston University and AT&T Bell Labs. The
telescope will observe at wavelengths between 200 micrometres and 1 millimetre.
The telescope will study the formation and evolution of molecular clouds
in our Galaxy.
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Harper鈥檚 group at Chicago will build the South Pole Infrared Explorer
(SPIREX), a 60-centimetre telescope that will survey the infrared sky at
wavelengths near 2.5 micrometres. They hope to observe distant young galaxies,
young stars in interstellar gas clouds, and 鈥榖rown dwarfs鈥�.
The cold air over Antarctica emits much less infrared light at wavelengths
鈥榮een鈥� by SPIREX than warmer air, which should improve the quality of its
images.
The Cosmic Background Radiation Anisotropy project will observe at wavelengths
of 1 to 10 millimetres, seeking background variations as small as one in
a million. Failure to find differences at that level could force revisions
to theories of how the Universe formed.
