China plans to install a network of telescopes in Antarctica to study the cosmos

China plans to build a network of 100 small wide-field telescopes in the Antarcticaa project that, according to Chinese scientists, will allow a single observatory to cover an area of ​​sky of 10,000 square degrees.

The project, under the name Tianmu Time Domain Astronomical Observation Network, “successfully” completed a test operation in Antarctica during the Asian giant’s 39th scientific expedition, the Xinhua news agency reported today.

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For 248 days, the prototype performed observations without problems, verifying a photometric precision of one thousandth of a stellar magnitude, according to the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory (SHAO) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

“Preliminary analysis showed that the photometric accuracy of the prototype for stars brighter than magnitude 9 in images exposed for 30 seconds reached one thousandth of a stellar magnitude, which verifies the feasibility of the design,” said Zhou Dan, chief engineer of the prototype.

The prototype is China’s first astronomical observation equipment in Antarctica based on drift-scanning charge-coupled device (CCD) technology, which allows the telescope to track celestial objects without a driving mechanism, according to Zhou. .

The Tianmu model was transported to China’s Zhongshan station during the country’s 39th Antarctic scientific expedition, when two Chinese icebreakers began the expedition in late October 2022 and traveled more than 60,000 nautical miles over 163 days.

To date, the Asian giant only participated on the frozen continent, along with other countries, in the Schmidt Telescopes in Antarctica, unlike the Tianmu project, where it will take a leadership position.

Compared to the South Pole Telescope (SPT), a unique 10-meter US-led telescope located in Antarctica, the Tianmu has a number of differences according to experts.

The Chinese telescope network will have much greater sky coverage and will be based on time-domain astronomy, allowing transient objects, such as supernovae and variable stars, to be studied more quickly and sensitively, while the SPT focuses on the Background Cosmic Microwave Imager (CMB) and galaxy clusters.

Source: Elcomercio

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