Astronomy from 80 Degrees North on Ellesmere Island, Canada
Site testing carried out on Ellesmere Island over recent years has shown that mountainous coastal terrain there can provide high clear-sky fractions in the long dark season, with low precipitable water-vapour column and prospects for excellent seeing. This presents new possibilities for time-domain...
| Published in: | Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union |
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| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
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2013
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1017/S1743921312016869 https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/eng/view/object/?id=09ec3903-efaf-4eae-bad6-4761c47e727e https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/fra/voir/objet/?id=09ec3903-efaf-4eae-bad6-4761c47e727e |
| Summary: | Site testing carried out on Ellesmere Island over recent years has shown that mountainous coastal terrain there can provide high clear-sky fractions in the long dark season, with low precipitable water-vapour column and prospects for excellent seeing. This presents new possibilities for time-domain and survey-mode science in the northern hemisphere, allowing uninterrupted high-precision photometry in the optical/near-infrared, but also gains in the submillimetre/millimetre. Efforts underway at the Eureka research station, at 80 degrees latitude, are reviewed. This location provides year-round access to a nearby site being developed as a pathfinder observatory. A program of variable-star and transient searches involving a wide-field imaging system has begun, with some early results. Plans include extrasolar-planet hunting via transit surveys, and future directions are discussed. Peer reviewed: Yes NRC publication: Yes |
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