The Chinese Center for Antarctic Astronomy has announced that
two astronomers will head for the South Pole as members of China's
24th Antarctic expedition team at the end of October. They plan to
climb Dome-A at the end of December and prepare to build an
automatic astronomical observatory.
Dome-A is the highest location in Antarctica at about 4,093
meters above sea level. It is one of the best places on earth for
setting up an observatory because it stores climate information and
atmospheric conditions for the entire globe. From there one can
observe climate and environmental changes and special natural
phenomena that cannot be seen from any other places. China's
Antarctic expedition team successfully climbed Dome-A for the first
time in 2005, marking a major breakthrough in China's Polar
exploration.
What differs this expedition from the previous ones is that the
team includes two astronomers. They are Zhou Xu, researcher from
the National Astronomical Observatories, and Zhu Zhenxi, deputy
researcher from the Purple Mountain Observatory. This will be the
first time Chinese astronomers climb the Antarctic Dome-A. Their
responsibilities are to install and debug the astronomical
instruments and set up the automatic astronomical observatory.
If everything goes well, China will establish the automatic
astronomical observatory at Dome-A next year. An expert from the
Chinese Center for Antarctic Astronomy explained that the main
purpose of the observatory is to conduct astronomical calculations
and determine the parameters of the astronomical site selection.
The observatory will be equipped with engines, host computers,
satellite communication, and an automatic observatory
tower.?
(China.org.cn by Zhang Ming'ai, October 15, 2007)