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International Team Establishes Unique Observatory in Antarctica
DOME ARGUS, Antarctica – A team of scientists representing six international institutions, including Texas A&M University, has succeeded in reaching the summit of Antarctica
– also a monumental achievement for ground-based astronomy -- to
establish a new astronomical observatory at Dome Argus on the highest
point of the Antarctic Plateau.
Two
weeks after arriving Jan. 11 at “Dome A” for only the second time in
history, an expedition team led by the Polar Research Institute of
China (PRIC) has completed installation work on a revolutionary fully
robotic observatory, dubbed PLATeau Observatory or PLATO, that Texas
A&M astrophysicist Dr. Lifan Wang predicts will result in new
insights into the universe once possible only from space.