Astronomy on Ice

Abstract

The geographic South Pole, where the United States maintains a year-round scientific station, affords a number of unique advantages for certain types of astronomical observations. These include: continuous viewing and constant declination of ail objects in the southern celestial hemisphere, exceedingly low humidity, extended periods of coronal seeing, high altitude, and uniform terrain. The areas of research that have already benefited immensely from thèse extraordinary features are helioseismology and submillimeter astronomy. Unparalleled observations of global solar oscillations have already yielded significant information about the structure and dynamics of the Sun’s interior. Far infrared measurements of various galactic and extra-galactic regions have attained an unprecedented level of sensitivity, limited for the first time only by the noise inherent in the detector. In addition to further helioseismological observations, currently planned future activities include observational cosmology and ultra high energy gamma ray astronomy.