Good News for stargazers! Antarctic Plateau could offer best possible view of stars

A new study by a team of scientists from China, Australia and the University of British Columbia has revealed that astronomers can get the best possible view of the stars from a plateau in Antarctica. The name of this plateau is Dome A. The study has been published in the journal Nature.

A 'better view' ensured 

According to the research, this plateau is one of the coldest and remotest areas. It offers the best possible view of stars at night due to its high altitude, low temperature and long periods of darkness. The plateau also offers a super stable atmosphere. Usually, places located at less altitude and close to plains, offer atmospheric turbulence. This leads to bad image quality on telescopes. However, the study reveals that a telescope placed there could take in account even fainter objects.

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Bin Ma, the astronomer from University of British Columbia said, “The thinner boundary layer at Dome A makes it less challenging to locate a telescope above it, thereby giving greater access to the free atmosphere”. He is also one of the lead creators of the study. Currently, Chile and Hawaii are two observatories from where the astronomers manage to get a transparent view. They are both positioned at a higher altitude alongside the equator.

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The study suggests that Antarctic has the potential for better seeing because of the weaker turbulence in the free atmosphere which has an estimated range of 0.23 to 0.36 arcseconds at a location called Dome C. Turbulence usually makes the stars twinkle and that impacts its measurement. This is referred to as ‘seeing’. According to the study, the measurements taken from Dome A have been much better than the measurements taken from Dome C. 

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(Image Credits: Unsplash)