The History of Astrophysics in Antarctica

Abstract

We examine the historical development of astrophysical science in Antarctica from the early 20th century until today. We find three temporally overlapping eras, each having a rather distinct beginning. These are the astrogeological era of meteorite discovery, the high energy era of particle detectors, and the photon astronomy era of microwave, sub--mm and infrared telescopes, sidelined by a few niche experiments at optical wavelengths. The favourable atmospheric and geophysical conditions are briefly examined, followed by an account of the major experiments and a summary of their results.

29 pages, 10 figures, 1 table Submitted to PASA in April 2004

References in corpus (4)

• First Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Determination of Cosmological Parameters
• High Resolution Observations of the CMB Power Spectrum with ACBAR
• The AST/RO Survey of the Galactic Center Region. I. The Inner 3 Degrees
• ACBAR: The Arcminute Cosmology Bolometer Array Receiver

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Astronomy in Antarctica
• Atmospheric scintillation at Dome C, Antarctica: implications for photometry and astrometry
• Science Programs for a 2 m-class Telescope at Dome C, Antarctica: PILOT, the Pathfinder for an International Large Optical Telescope
• Transit Search from Antarctica and Chile - Comparison and Combination