The Astrophysical Value of Continuous Photometric Monitoring from the Antarctic Plateau

• Published in: Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia
• Main Authors: Viotti, Roberto, Vignato, Agostino, Nanni, Domenico, Maceroni, Carla, Badiali, Massimo
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1996
• Subjects: Space and Planetary Science; Astronomy and Astrophysics; Antarctic; The Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1323358000020427; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S1323358000020427

Abstract Among the astrophysical researches which will largely benefit from observation from the Antarctic Plateau, we consider those which require high-quality, continuous, daylight, uninterrupted observation in the optical–near-IR region. The systematic study of the stellar micro-oscillations and surface activity of individual objects, as well as of stellar associations extended for periods of weeks, will make a fundamental contribution to our knowledge of stellar structure and will ultimately provide the physical parameters of the stars. A similar consideration applies for the short-period (a few hours to a few days) binaries, which include the W UMa contact binaries. These objects are subject to continuously varying light curves associated with surface activity and secular effects, which cannot be adequately studied from the currently available ground telescopes. Finally, the exceptional seeing and low background will allow the systematic search for and study of supernovae in clusters of galaxies at cosmological distances, which will improve our knowledge of the geometry of the Universe at z ~ 0·7–1.