The Aastino: Automated Astrophysical Site Testing International

• Main Authors: Observatory Lawrence Ashley, O. Maher, J. W. V. Storey, T. Travoullion
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antarctic; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.15.4573; http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~mgb/Bibliography/./Antbib/heidleberg_lawrence.pdf

The AASTINO is a remote observatory that has been deployed at the Italian/French base Dome C (75 S, 123 E, 3200 m) on the Antarctic plateau in January 2003. It is designed to run throughout the Antarctic winter without intervention, and to collect data on the astronomical qualities of the site: specifically the turbulence profile, the infrared sky background, and the submillimetre opacity. The AASTINO represents an important step in the development of this site as a future astronomical observatory -- which due to its excellent site qualities has the potential to act as an important technological step towards future space missions such as Darwin/TPF. The AASTINO also demonstrates the use of a unique hybrid power system in Antarctica, and a unique remote control systems architecture.