PANDA and Astronomy Projects on Dome A

1. PANDA and Astronomy Projects on Dome A Xu ZHOU(周旭) Lifan WANG(王立帆) Xiangqun CUI(崔向群) Yuansheng LI(李院生) Jun YAN(严俊) Longlong FENG(冯隆隆) Yongheng ZHAO(赵永恒) Jingyao HU(胡景耀) Yongqiang YAO(姚永强) Zhenxi ZHU(朱镇熹) Purple Mountain Observatory (紫金山天文台PMO) Nanjing Institute of Astronomical Optics and Technology/NAOC (南京天文光学技术研究所) Polar Reserch Institute of China (中国极地研究中心) National Astronomical Observatories (国家天文台NAOC) Sino-France 2006

2. What is PANDA? The Prydz Bay, Amery Ice Shelf and Dome A Observatories Short Form Title : PANDA The geographic locations (60o～80oE, south of 53oS) Main research areas • Prydz Bay • Amery Ice Shelf • Zhongshan Station • Lambert Basin • Zhongshan-Dome A transect • Dome A

3. 2007/2008 and 2008/2009 season: • Traverse from Zhongshan to Dome A twice, • About 8 snow mobiles every time, can take about 700 tons. • Set up a 100 m2 building at Dome A. • Install several Astronomy instruments at Dome A. • About 2010 : • Set up the station living through the winter on Dome A

4. The fund for PANDA in term of IPY is more than $25M. Sponsors are: • Ministry of Finance • Ministry of Science and Technology • National Science Foundation of China • State Oceanic Administration

5. East Antarctic Glaciological Exploration (EAGLE) MGA Mawson E70 Prince Charles Mountain Prydz Bay Amery Ice Shelf Grove Mountain Zhongshan 1996/1997 Davis 1997/1998 E80 1998/1999 Dome A About 1228km Princess Elizabeth Land 2004/2005 80 75 70

6. USGS image • Dome A • SouthPole • Vostok • Dome C

7. Lawrence, Ashley, Tokovinin, and Travouillon, Nature,431, 278, (2004)

8. How about Dome A as astronomy observation site? • The collaboration between Antarctic Astronomy Center of China (AACC) and University of New South Wales. • AASTINO has contributed to the site measure at Dome C. AASTINO

9. Cooperate with California Institute of Technology • A 35cm-diameter-telescope to measure the seeing, background light, etc. at Dome A. • AACC provides telescope, Caltech provides the CCD.

10. 4x15cm telescopes • 4 telescopes with diameter 15cm, 1Kx1K CCD each, 5x5 square degrees view, all point to the zenith of the south pole. • With BVRI filters and polarizer, without any mechanical moveable instrument. • Constant observation for more than 4 months, take pictures every 10s.

11. Science Purposes • Variables with photometer and color, etc. • SNe, Novae, Orphan afterglows of γoutburst. • Search for extrasolar planets. • Light curves of variables • Statistic of the variables in this area. • Site survey: background light, cloud, etc.

12. XIAN— eXtreme Imaging Array Network inspired by the appearance of the terracotta armies at Xian, China D. York, D. Lamb, D. Sanford (U. Chicago); C Pennypacker (SSL); X. Cui (NAIOT); J. Storey, M. Ashley (UNSW); R. Malina, S. Basa (Marseille); E. Cappellaro (Padova); L. Wang (LBL); M. Blouke (Ball Aerospace); X. Zhou (CAS, Beijing)

13. Xian plan, cooperate with UC,Chicago • 400 telescopes with diameter 50cm, 20 square degrees each, 16Kx16K CCD. • Half (1/3?) monitor the area near the zenith(4000 degrees) , the others survey the whole south sky. • The first step is in International Polar Year, build 2 or 3 sample telescopes. • Deep optical survey (much deeper than SDSS) • The same subjects as 4x15cm, but much more powerful.

14. The View of Xian

15. Close View

16. 图4 (b) 4米望远镜机架及支撑效果图 4-meter telescope

17. Characters of 4-meter and benefits from the best site on the earth • field of view(FOV) is 2° • Image quality: 1° FOV: 80% circled in 0.1 "; full FOV (2°): 80% circled in 0.15" • reach 29th magnitude in R-band (10σ) due to the best seeing, clearity, etc. • Cost of the telescope is less than $30M. • Similar characters as SNAPor LSST(8 meter)

18. Thanks!

19. Antarctic disadvantages • Winterizing a telescope takes time/effort • It is difficult to repair faults in mid-winter • It is more expensive and difficult to have a large team of people at the telescope (hence automation is critical) • Transporting large structures to Dome C incurs a year’s delay at Dumont d’Urville station • The telescope is being built on ice foundations • Less cloud-free dark time than Chile (although the same as Mauna Kea) • Aurorae (although Dome C is in the middle of the auroral oval) • Less overall sky coverage

20. Antarctic advantages • Superb seeing (0.27 arcsec average; < 0.15 arcsec for 25% of the time) • Wide isoplanatic angle, long coherence times (a factor of 2 better than MK) • Lower scintillation (a factor of 2-3 times lower than MK) • Low precipitable water vapour – new windows, wider windows • Stable atmospheric conditions • Low IR backgrounds (factors of 10-100 better than MK) • Low telescope temperatures (particularly important for interferometry) • Greatly reduced telescope costs (for the same performance) • No aerosols or dust particles • Longer mirror coating lifetimes (no need for recoating?) • Reduced airmass variations • >90% cloud free at Dome C; long periods of continuous observation • Low windspeeds, low maximum wind speeds • No seismic activity • No endangered species, etc • Increased sky coverage (for some projects, e.g., AO imaging, interferometry) • Plenty of room to put lots of telescopes!

21. June 21st Galactic coordinates 6 am 6 am LMC LMC SMC SMC Galactic center Galactic center

22. June 21st Galactic coordinates 12 am 12 am LMC SMC LMC SMC Galactic center Galactic center

23. June 21st Galactic coordinates 6 pm SMC LMC Galactic center

24. June 21st Galactic coordinates 12 pm LMC SMC Galactic center