Dome C Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Dome C, also known as Dome Circe or Dome Charlie, () is a local feature of the Antarctic Plateau, and site of the Concordia scientific station.Dome C is notable for being the site of an astronomical observatory, which is capable of extremely accurate observations; the transparency of the Antarctic atmosphere allows stars to be observed, even when the sun is at an elevation angle of .
Writing in Nature, astronomer Jon S. Lawrence and coworkers discuss the suitability of the site for astronomy in terms of the seeing and state:
- ...the median seeing is 0.27 arcsec, and below 0.15 arcsec 25 per cent of the time. A telescope placed at Dome C would compete with one that is 2 to 3 times larger at the best mid-latitude observatories, and an interferometer based at this site could work on projects that would otherwise require a space mission.
Lawrence considers other features of the site and concludes that "Dome C is the best ground-based site to develop a new astronomical observatory".
The experiment was controlled by a computer system that had to supervise the generation of its own electricity using a jet-fuel powered stirling engine. The computer, running Linux, communicated with the outside world using an Iridium phone.
External link
http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~pcalisse/Gallery/DomeC/domeC_FAQ.html
This is an Article on Dome C. Page Contains Information, Facts Details or Explanation Guide About Dome C