Photometry of Variables from Dome A, Antarctica

• Published in: Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union
• Main Authors: Wang, Lingzhi, Macri, L. M., Wang, L., Ashley, M. C. B., Cui, X., Feng, L. L., Gong, X., Lawrence, J. S., Liu, Q., Luong-Van, D., Pennypacker, C. R., Shang, Z., Storey, J. W. V., Yang, H., Yang, J., Yuan, X., York, D. G., Zhou, X., Zhu, Z.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2012
• Subjects: Astronomy and Astrophysics; Space and Planetary Science; Antarctic; The Antarctic; Saunders; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1743921312017127; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S1743921312017127

Abstract Dome A on the Antarctic plateau is likely one of the best observing sites on Earth (Saunders et al . 2009). We used the CSTAR telescope (Yuan et al . 2008) to obtain time-series photometry of 10 4 stars with i >14.5 mag during 128 days of the 2008 Antarctic winter season (Wang et al . 2011). During the 2010 season we observed 2 × 10 4 stars with i >15 mag for 183 days (Wang et al . 2012). We detected a total of 262 variables, a 6 × increase relative to previous surveys of the same area and depth carried out from temperate sites (Pojmanski 2004). Our observations show that high-precision, long-term photometry is possible from Antarctica and that astronomically useful data can be obtained during 80% of the winter season.