Tuesday, December 13, 2011

ANTARCTICA SHINES: Icy Bastion of Space Science


Antarctica Shines as Icy Bastion of Space Science
by Charles Q. Choi, SPACE.com Contributor
Date: 09 December 2011 Time: 12:54 PM ET


Interesting snippets:
Antarctica may be the bottom of the world, but the coldest, driest, highest continent is the best place for looking up at the heavens from Earth.
Astronomers are now carrying out cutting-edge research in the South Pole that could shed light on the greatest secrets of the universe. [Images: Peering Back to the Big Bang & Early Universe]
"Amazingly, the South Pole now ranks with the grand research laboratories such as Fermilab and CERN," said theoretical physicist Francis Halzen of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. 
Clear skies
The Antarctic is a land of harsh extremes, ones that make it perfect in many ways for astronomy.
Antarctica is the coldest continent, meaning there is less thermal radiation to hamper astronomy that focuses on infrared light. This cold also makes Antarctica the driest continent, freezing liquid water on the ground and water vapor out of the air. As such, there is little water present to interfere with light coming from outer space that astronomers want to observe.
Antarctica is the highest continent — its icy surface rises gradually from the coast to a vast plateau, and the area of ice more than 9,800 feet (3,000 meters) high is nearly as large as Australia. This elevation also makes Antarctica the windiest continent — gravity pulls air off the plateau, and the so-called katabatic winds that result can reach hurricane speeds at the coast. Still, there is little wind on the highest points of the plateau, and the calmest spot on Earth in terms of wind speeds and lack of major storms can be found there. Overall, the stable nature of the air there is ideal for steady stargazing.
The South Pole lies on the flank of the Antarctic plateau at an elevation of 9,300 feet (2,835 meters). Here, the United States keeps the South Pole Telescope gazing at the cosmic microwave background — the oldest light in the universe — as well as millimeter-wave radiation from outer space.
IceCube
The vast amounts of pure ice in Antarctica make it ideal for absorbing and studying particles from outer space. For instance, the largest neutrino telescope in the world, IceCube, is built 1.2 miles (2 kilometers) below the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, and "transforms deep ice into the largest particle detector ever constructed," said Halzen, principal investigator of IceCube.
Neutrinos are ghostly particles that recently have drawn much attention for potentially traveling faster than light. IceCube will look at neutrinos created from the most energetic objects in space to help unlock their secrets. [Top 10 Implications of Faster-Than-Light Neutrinos]
Train for Mars and Europa
Antarctica is also the richest source of meteorites on Earth — anything that comes crashing from space is readily apparent on the otherwise featureless surface, and the cold keeps the meteorites frozen in nearly pristine conditions. Antarctic meteorites include rocks that were blasted off Mars long ago by other space rock impacts; analyzing these meteorites could shed light on whether the Red Planet could have ever hosted life.
Advances from China
China is building Kunlun Station at the highest point at the Antarctic plateau at an elevation of 13,395 feet (4,083 m). Chinese researchers have ambitious plans for telescopes that work in the optical, infrared and terahertz ranges, Burton noted. Australia is collaborating with them, and has already set up a robotic observatory there, he added.
"I think it would be a good idea for U.S. groups to support China's efforts as much as possible and take part in them if we want to remain a leader in Antarctic astronomy," Crawford said. "There's going to be exciting work there in the future."
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