Near Infrared Astronomy at the South Pole

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

Scientific paper

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Scientific paper

From space, the zodiacal light is the limiting source of noise for deep surveys over a wide range of wavelengths. It has a minimum in the near infrared which occurs at the crossover where the reflected sunlight is diminishing with wavelength and reradiated thermal emission from the warm dust is on the rise. This is potentially the best window in which to carry out deep surveys. On the ground, the sensitivity of observations in the near infrared are limited by the Poisson noise of the large background flux from the atmosphere and telescope. Within a restricted wavelength range, this background depends only on two parameters: their temperature and emissivity. By building very low emissivity telescopes and operating them in the extreme cold of the Antarctic winter we expect to make observations which will rival in sensitivity those attainable from space-based telescopes. Over the next several years we will deploy a series of spectrometers, photometers, and telescopes at the South Pole as part of a project named SPIREX - for South Pole Infrared Explorer. Our goal is to survey a substantial area of the sky in order to study the origins of galaxies and stars.

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