Ten years from the Antarctic Sub-millimeter Telescope and Remote Observatory

• Published in: Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union
• Main Author: Martin, Christopher L.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2006
• Subjects: Astronomy and Astrophysics; Space and Planetary Science; Amundsen Scott South Pole Station; Amundsen-Scott; Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station; Antarctic; Polar Plateau; South Pole; The Antarctic; Antarc*; South pole
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1743921307012264; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S1743921307012264

Beginning with the winter season of 1995 and for the next ten years, the Antarctic Sub-mm Telescope and Remote Observatory (AST/RO, Stark et al . 1997; Stark et al . 2001; < http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/ASTRO/ >), a 1.7m diameter, offset Gregorian telescope located at an altitude of 2847m at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station collected sub-mm and Terahertz data in the 1.3mm to 200μm wavelength bands. From its location just a few hundred meters away from the geophysical South Pole, AST/RO was the first sub-mm telescope to over-winter on the polar plateau, a location uniquely suited to high quality sub-mm observations due its very low humidity, high atmospheric stability and thin troposphere (Chamberlin et al . 1997).