CSIRO PUBLISHING www.publish.csiro.au/journals/pasa Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia, 2009, 26, 415–438 The Science Case for PILOT III: the Nearby Universe

• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2008
• Subjects: Anglo-Australian Observatory; NSW 1710; Antarctic; Pasa; The Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.296.436; http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/jacara/Papers/pdf/lawrence_pilot_3.pdf

Abstract: PILOT (the Pathfinder for an International Large Optical Telescope) is a proposed 2.5-m optical/ infrared telescope to be located at Dome C on the Antarctic plateau. The atmospheric conditions at Dome C deliver a high sensitivity, high photometric precision, wide-field, high spatial resolution, and high-cadence imaging capability to the PILOT telescope. These capabilities enable a unique scientific potential for PILOT, which is addressed in this series of papers. The current paper presents a series of projects dealing with the nearby Universe that have been identified as key science drivers for the PILOT facility. Several projects are proposed that examine stellar populations in nearby galaxies and stellar clusters in order to gain insight into the formation and evolution processes of galaxies and stars. A series of projects will investigate the molecular