Antarctic Kunlun Station

Kunlun Station (simplified Chinese: 昆仑站; traditional Chinese: 崑崙站; pinyin: Kūnlún Zhàn) is one of four Chinese research stations in Antarctica.

It is located in the Australian Antarctic Territory at 4087 m above sea level, the highest among all research stations, and 7.3 km southwest of Dome A and was officially opened on January 27, 2009. Fully constructed the station is planned to cover an area of 558 m². The main building, covering 236 m², is planned erected in April 2009.[1]

The site is one of the coldest in the world, with temperatures occasionally reaching −80 °C (−112 °F) in the winter. It is indicated from satellite measurements that places nearby could reach a world record −90 °C (−130 °F) temperature.[2]

In April 2012 the first of three Antarctica Schmidt telescopes (AST3) was installed at Kunlun Station. The other two were planned for installation in 2013 and 2014. A bigger optical telescope, Kunlun Dark Universe Survey Telescope (KDUST), is planned to be installed by 2020.

Telescopes at Antarctic Kunlun Station

Instrument Name Aperture Installation Year Remarks
Chinese Small Telescope Array (CSTAR) [3] 0.145m 2008 CSTAR is an array of four Schmidt telescope with aperture of 14.5 cm,equipped with 1Kx1K CCD each.
Antarctica Schmidt telescopes (AST3) 0.5m 2012-2014 First of three AST3 telescopes was installed at the Antarctic Kunlun Station in April 2012.[4]
Kunlun Dark Universe Survey Telescope (KDUST) 2.5m 2020 KDUST is a 2.5 meter infrared optical telescope designed to detect and observe Earth-like planets in the Milky Way using infrared light.[5]
Dome A Terahertz Explorer-5 (DATE5) 5m 2020 DATE5 is a 5-meter telescope designed to detect light with longer wavelengths, which will allow astronomers to detect and observe nascent stars.[5]
Infrared optical telescope 6-8m 2020+
New terahertz telescope 15m 2020+

See also

References

  1. ↑ "China sets up 3rd Antarctic research station". 2009-01-28. Archived from the original on 31 January 2009. Retrieved 28 January 2009.
  2. ↑ "Minus credibility? Antarctic record low temperature disputed". RT English. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
  3. ↑ "Installment of telescope array completed at Dome A -- china.org.cn". china.org.cn. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
  4. ↑ "China installs large Antarctic survey telescope". peopledaily.com.cn. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
  5. 1 2 http://www.sciencepoles.org/articles/article_detail/china_spreads_its_polar_wings_research_programmes_at_kunlun_station/

External links

Coordinates: 80°25′01″S 77°06′58″E / 80.41694°S 77.11611°E / -80.41694; 77.11611

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