Scientific Goals of the Kunlun Infrared Sky Survey (KISS) ...

• Main Authors: Burton, Michael G., Zheng, Jessica, Mould, Jeremy, Cooke, Jeff, Ireland, Michael, Uddin, Syed Ashraf, Zhang, Hui, Yuan, Xiangyan, Lawrence, Jon, Ashley, Michael C B, Wu, Xuefeng, Curtin, Chris, Wang, Lifan
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Swinburne 2024
• Subjects: Cosmology and extragalactic astronomy; Antarc*; Antarctic; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.25916/sut.26244266; https://figshare.swinburne.edu.au/articles/journal_contribution/Scientific_Goals_of_the_Kunlun_Infrared_Sky_Survey_KISS_/26244266

The high Antarctic plateau provides exceptional conditions for infrared observations on account of the cold, dry and stable atmosphere above the ice surface. This paper describes the scientific goals behind the first program to examine the time-varying universe in the infrared from Antarctica - the Kunlun Infrared Sky Survey (KISS). This will employ a 50cm telescope to monitor the southern skies in the 2.4 mu mK(dark) window from China's Kunlun station at Dome A, on the summit of the Antarctic plateau, through the uninterrupted 4-month period of winter darkness. An earlier paper discussed optimisation of the K-dark filter for sensitivity (Li et al. 2016). This paper examines the scientific program for KISS. We calculate the sensitivity of the camera for the extrema of observing conditions that will be encountered. We present the parameters for sample surveys that could then be carried out for a range of cadences and sensitivities. We then discuss several science programs that could be conducted with these ...