Issue 9: Optical Telescope Special of Antarctic Telescope CSTAR

so we'll start this issue by introducing what optical telescopes are currently available in the Antarctic, one of the best observatory sites in terms of visual nimbleness.

Probably most people who hear the word Antarctica brain flash are penguins, icebergs, aurora borealis, and cold cold cold 。。。。。。

But the biggest attraction of the Antarctic for astronomers is not only that, as the two "brothers" discovered, it is the smallest astronomical observation site on Earth.

Before introducing the telescope, let's do a brief introduction to the Antarctic. Wait a minute, we are still using the classic narrative writing technique in the first-year language.

By Antarctica, we mean Antarctica, one of the seven continents of the Earth and the only one that is not inhabited by permanent residents, with only scientific expeditions and whaling teams from all over the world. Of course, I'm afraid the "gentleman" penguins would disagree. In addition, there are seals, Antarctic wolves, krill, gulls, and many other species in Antarctica.

The Antarctic Circle is home to the continent's unique polar day and night phenomena, which are caused by the Earth's elliptical orbit around the sun while rotating on its tilted earth axis. Polar day and night alternate each year between the North and South Poles. The higher the dimension, the long the polar day and polar night.

This is the main reason why the annual Antarctic scientific research is conducted in winter and the Arctic scientific research is conducted in summer. We are in the northern hemisphere, and the winter in the northern hemisphere is the summer in the Antarctic, which is convenient for the research team to enter and start scientific research. The Antarctic is a land of the dead at night, with the lowest temperature ever recorded reaching a staggering -94.2 degrees Celsius.

China currently has five Antarctic research stations, namely the Great Wall Station (built-in 1985), Zhongshan Station (built-in 1989), Kunlun Station (built-in 2008), Taishan Station (built-in 2014), and Ross Sea Station (built-in 2018).

The main vehicles for polar scientific research at present are Xuelong 1 and Xuelong 2. Xuelong 1 was acquired from Ukraine in 1993 and transformed and upgraded into a polar research vessel, and Xuelong 2 is the first polar research vessel built by China itself and opened its maiden voyage to Antarctica in 2019.

Let's continue back to the telescope.

China's first Antarctic telescope CSTAR (full name: Chinese Star Small Telescope Array) went to Antarctica with the 24th Chinese Antarctic scientific expedition in November 2007 and arrived at Kunlun Station in Dome A in January 2008, becoming the first set of optical astronomical observation equipment in Antarctica.

The development of CSTAR was planned by the Nanjing Institute of Astronomy and Optical Technology (Nanjing Institute of Astronomy and Optical Technology), the Purple Mountain Observatory, and the National Astronomical Observatory, but the main telescope was developed by the Nanjing Institute of Astronomy and Optical Technology. The telescope was successfully developed and tested in a low-temperature environment in just ten months and successfully passed the acceptance test. During the development period, we overcame technical difficulties such as difficulties in mounting the large field of view - short focal length telescope system, frost and snow accumulation in the telescope in an extreme environment, and vibration in the long-distance sea and land transportation.

As a scientific instrument, it is always necessary to mention something called scientific objectives or call it a mission, and the scientific objectives of CSTAR are mainly to monitor and statistically analyze variable stars, search for exoplanets, supernovae, etc. As a science instrument, I would like to thank you. As a science instrument, let's start from the instrument itself, the science goal is not too long.

CSTAR consists of four 14.5 cm aperture large field of view telescopes mounted on the same frame to form a small telescope array, the field of view is 4.5 ° × 4.5 °, focal ratio of 1.2. four telescopes through different bands, that is, to be equipped with four kinds of filters, the detector is 1k × 1k frame transfer CCD, each pixel size of 13 microns.

Since CSTAR does not require motion such as pointing and tracking, there is no corresponding operation and control system.

At present, CSATR has been honorably retired and brought back to China in a package by the 35th scientific research team, successfully completing its 12 years of observation career.