南极洲高原介绍

南极洲高原的天文开发在过去的10年中有了显著的进展．大的天文设施已在南极(South Pole)的Amundsen-Scott站运行,更具威力的望远镜已在计划或正在那儿建设,然而由于一些重要的原因,高原站址冰穹A(Dome A)和冰穹C(Dome C)对多种天文学科似乎比南极更具有利条件．2005年1月中国对冰穹A的成功考察,加上2005年以整年运行为目的的法/意Concordia站在冰穹C的开启,已为南极洲天文学创造了激动人心的新机遇．

Introduction to the Antarctic Plateau

Over the past decade there has been remarkable progress in the exploration of the Antarctic plateau for astronomy.Already,major astronomical facilities are in opera- tion at the Amundsen-Scott Station at South Pole,and even more ambitious telescopes are planned or under construction there.However,for a number of important reasons the high plateau sites of Dome A and Dome C appear to offer even more favourable conditions than South Pole for many kinds of astronomy.The success of the Chinese expedition to Dome A in January 2005,plus the opening of the French/Italian Concordia Station at Dome C for year-round operation in 2005,have now created exciting new opportunities for Antarctic astronomy.