The Antarctic Submillimeter Telescope and Remote Observatory (AST/RO

• Main Authors: Antony A. Stark, John Bally, Simon P. Balm, T. M. Bania, Alberto D. Bolatto, Richard A. Chamberlin, Gregory Engargiola, Maohai Huang, James G. Ingalls, Karl Jacobs, James M. Jackson, Jacob W. Kooi, Adair P. Lane, K. -y. Lo, Rodney D. Marks, Christopher L. Martin, Dennis Mumma, Roopesh Ojha, Rudolf Schieder, Johannes Staguhn, Jürgen Stutzki, Christopher K. Walker, Robert W. Wilson, Gregory A. Wright, Xiaolei Zhang, Peter Zimmermann
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antarctic; Austral; Milky Way; South Pole; The Antarctic; Antarc*; South pole
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.257.8542; http://arxiv.org/pdf/astro-ph/0008253v2.pdf

AST/RO, a 1.7 m diameter telescope for astronomy and aeronomy studies at wavelengths between 200 and 2000 µm, was installed at South Pole during the 1994-95 Austral summer. The telescope operates continuously through the Austral winter, and is being used primarily for spectroscopic studies of neutral atomic carbon and carbon monoxide in the interstellar medium of the Milky Way and the Magellanic Clouds. The South Pole environment is unique among observatory sites for unusually low wind speeds, low absolute humidity, and the consistent clarity of the submillimeter sky. Especially significant are the exceptionally low values of sky noise found at this site, a result of the small water vapor content of the atmosphere. Four heterodyne receivers, an array receiver, three