AN OFF-AXIS TELESCOPE CONCEPT FOR ANTARCTIC ASTRONOMY
Abstract. The site of the CONCORDIA station at Dome C on the Antarctic Plateau offers exceptional atmospheric and environmental conditions for astronomical observations over a wide range of wavelengths and is uniquely favorable to infrared astronomy. To make the best use of these exceptional environ...
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
---|---|
Other Authors: | |
Format: | Text |
Language: | English |
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.393.705 http://hal.inria.fr/docs/00/74/13/75/PDF/2.5_C_SF2A.pdf |
Summary: | Abstract. The site of the CONCORDIA station at Dome C on the Antarctic Plateau offers exceptional atmospheric and environmental conditions for astronomical observations over a wide range of wavelengths and is uniquely favorable to infrared astronomy. To make the best use of these exceptional environment, especially the very low sky brightness throughout the near- and mid-infrared, we must develop a telescope offering the highest possible dynamic range for photometry, a high angular resolution and a wide-field. In these conditions, a modest-sized 2m off-axis telescope achieves comparable sensitivity to that of a larger ground-based 8-10m class telescope or a same sized space-borne ones. Keywords: off-axis telescope, infrared astronomy, Antarctic astronomy |
---|