Near—infrared sky brightness monitor for the South Pole

The antarctic plateau has the potential for being the best site on Earth for conducting astronomical observations from the near-infrared to the sub-millimeter. Particular gains are expected in the 1 to 5 micron region, where the high altitude, low water vapour content, and low thermal emission from...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Michael C. B. Ashley, Michael G. Burton, James P. Lloyd, John W. V. Storey
Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
Format: Text
Language:English
Subjects:
near-infrared
Antarctica
astronomy
site-testing 1 THE ENVIRONMENT AT THE SOUTH POLE
Antarctic
South Pole
The Antarctic
Antarc*
South pole
Online Access:http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.147.9701
http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~mcba/pubs/ashley95.pdf
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Summary:The antarctic plateau has the potential for being the best site on Earth for conducting astronomical observations from the near-infrared to the sub-millimeter. Particular gains are expected in the 1 to 5 micron region, where the high altitude, low water vapour content, and low thermal emission from the atmosphere combine to create observing conditions unequalled elsewhere on the surface of the earth. We describe an instrument, the Infrared Photometer-Spectrometer (IRPS), that we are using to quantify site conditions at the South Pole by measuring the near-infrared sky brightness. We also describe some ofthe unique problems associated with building instruments to work in Antarctica.

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