Astronomy from Dome A, Antarctica.pptx

Kunlun Station at Dome A and KDUST
Lifan Wang
中国南极天文中心
and
Texas A&M University
The Woodlands, TX, 2009 11 21
Astronomy of the Next Decade
The Dark Universe
The First Stars in the Universe
Life in the Universe
petitive is Dome A?
D – telescope diameter
F – linear field of view
Dl – filter bandwidth
Bl- background brightness
fwhm – characteristic psf
The speed with which a given area can be observed to a given depth
In background limited case:
For Dome A, we can assume fwhm as given by the seeing conditions. For
typical values of the background level, and identical instrument at Dome A
and a temperate site, we gain a factor of 8, 12, 160, and 160 times in J, H,
Kdark, and L, respectively.
Extremely Large Telescopes
Carnegie Inst. of Washington
Texas A&M Univ.
The Univ. of Texas at Austin
Harvard Univ.
The Australian National Univ.
Smithsonian Astrophys. Obs.
Univ. of Arizona
Astronomy Australia Ltd.
Korea Astr. and Space Sci. Inst.
Association of Canadian Universities for Research in Astronomy
California Institute of Technology
University of California
European Southern Observatory
The meter Giant Magellan Telescope
Understanding s outside the Solar System
Determining the Nature of Dark Matter and Dark Energy
Understanding Stellar Populations and the Origin of the Chemical Elements
Probing the Growth of Black Holes in the Universe
Understanding the Formation of Galaxies
Detecting First Light and the Reionization of the Universe
Seeing ~ - arcsec
Photometric ~ 60-65%, with 80% potentially useful
Going Deep
Las Campanas Peak
A Project Involving Texas A&M
The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST)
Median Seeing ~ arcsec
75% observable nights
degree field of view
meter diameter
Wide Field
To the Lowest Point on Earth
Marching toward Antarctica
A team of Pioneers led by Yuanshen Li of Polar Research Institute
Of China arrived at Dome Argus, Antarctica on Jan 18, 2005.
Winter 2006, 8m
Autumn, 8m
Weaker turbulence