The Antarctic Plateau: High, Dry, Cold and Stable

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The Antarctic PlateauHigh, Dry, Cold and Stable
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Astronomy in Antarctica

• Some History
• JACARA
• Astronomy in Antarctica

Australia
USA
Italy
France
Michael Burton
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Douglas Mawsons Australasian Antarctic
Expedition1911-1914
Adelie Land
Antarctic Collection, State Library of New South
Wales
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Mawson Station1954-2004

• Geiger counters on the Kista Dan (Parsons,
  1954)
• Muon Telescopes (Law 1955)
• Cosmic Ray Observatory (1971)
• Neutron monitors, muon telescopes
• 50 years of service.

Australian Antarctic Division
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The South Pole

• 1964 Cosmic Rays (Pomerantz)
• 1979 Stellar helioseismology (Fossat, Grec,
  Pomerantz)
• 1980s Sub-millimetre CMBR prototypes
• Emilie, Cucumber Land, White Dish, Gondolas
• 1990s High Energy astrophysics
• Gamma Rays, Cosmic Rays, Neutrinos.
• 1991 CARA Center for Astrophysical Research in
  Antarctica
• CMBR, Sub-mm, Infrared, Site testing

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JACARAJoint Australian Centre for Astrophysical
Research in Antarctica

• Australian Working Group for Antarctic Astronomy
  (1992)
• Science Case
• Staged route. Now at stage three!
• Joined CARAs site testing program at the Pole
• JACARA
• ANUUNSW (1994)
• AASTO (Automated Astrophysical Site Testing
  Observatory)
• SPIREX (60cm IR telescope 1998/99)
• AASTINO (Dome C 2003)

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JACARA in Antarctica
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Astrophysics from AntarcticaInfrared

• Shells of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
• around massive proto-stellar complexes

Burton et al, 2000
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Astrophysics from AntarcticaSub-millimetre

• Warm molecular gas across 3
• of the Galactic Centre

Martin et al, 2004
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Astrophysics from AntarcticaCMBR

• BOOMERanG
• The Universe is flat!

de Bernardis et al, 2000
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Astrophysics from AntarcticaCMBR

• DASI
• Polarization in the CMBR

Kovac et al, 2002
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Astrophysics from AntarcticaNeutrinos

• 1535 Neutrinos from the Northern sky
• (no cosmic sources yet)

Wiebush et al, 2002
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Astrophysics from AntarcticaSouth Pole
Mega-Telescopes

• 10m South Pole Telescope
• Cluster SZ-effect

1 km3 IceCube Neutrino Telescope
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Dome C isHigh, Dry, Cold and Stable