AN OFF-AXIS TELESCOPE CONCEPT FOR ANTARCTIC ASTRONOMY

• Main Authors: S. Boissier, P. De Laverny, N. Nardetto, R. Samadi, D. Valls-gabaud, H. Wozniak (eds, G. Moretto, I. Vauglin, M. Langlois, N. Epchtein
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antarctic; Concordia Station; The Antarctic; Antarc*
• 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

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