1 / 7

Ridge A / Dome A

Galaxies near and far are fundamentally transformed by the cycling of matter between gas and stars. Much of this cosmic life cycle is not observed at traditional optical or radio wavelengths and remains elusive.

zoe
Download Presentation

Ridge A / Dome A

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Galaxies near and far are fundamentally transformed by the cycling of matter between gas and stars. Much of this cosmic life cycle is not observed at traditional optical or radio wavelengths and remains elusive

  2. The best diagnostics of this life cycle lie at THz frequencies, or far-infrared wavelengths. These are the brightest spectral features in galaxies! • [CI] = 370 um (0.8 THz) [CII] = 158 um (1.9 THz) [NII] = 205 um (1.5 THz) [OI] = 63 um (4.7 THz) Unattenuated observation of these features requires very little intervening WATER VAPOR: < 0.2 mm pwv at 1.5 THz, < 0.1 mm pwv at 1.9 THz, < 0.01 mm pwv at 4.7 THz.

  3. Ridge A / Dome A The summit of the Antarctic plateau is the very best ground-based site for THz astronomy on Earth. The exceptionally cold, dry, and stable atmosphere allows THz observations not obtainable with regularity anywhere else. (PWV is 0.05-0.2 mm in winter!) The 0.6m aperture High Elevation Antarctic Terahertz (HEAT) telescope operates autonomously from Ridge A and is delivering excellent spectroscopic data from 200-370 um wavelength. http://soral.as.arizona.edu/heat/ HEAT measures >80 days per year when the sky transparency at 200 um wavelength is >25%. In comparison, the Chajnantor plain in Chile delivers a mere 5 days.

  4. Ridge A is indeed an extraordinary site for astronomy from 0-2 THz. But a higher platform is needed for 2-5 THz (150 to 60 um wavelength) Ridge A, best 25% Ridge A, median Chajnantor, median Mauna Kea, median

  5. Terahertz capabilities by end of decade ALMA ? CCAT SOFIA ULDB HEAT

  6. Terahertz capabilities by end of decade ALMA THz interferometry from Ridge A! CCAT SOFIA ULDB HEAT

More Related