Next 15 December IRAIT telescope (International Robotic Antarctic Infrared Telescope), will be on board the ship Italica, towards the Antarctica. IRAIT has been possible thanks to the cooperation of Spanish scientists of the University of Granada (Universidad de Granada) and Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia, and Italian researchers of the Universidad de Perugia and Teramo Observatory.
IRAIT will start observations during the winter of 2007 (Antarctic summer). It is the first astronomical project inside the ARENA network (Antarctic Research: a European Network for Astronomy). IRAIT is an initiative of the VI Framework Program of the European Union and its aim is to bring together all the knowledge of scientific institutions interested in performing astronomical observations on the Antarctica, in particular at the Concordia station (http://www.concordiastation.org/).
The main goal of that network, consisting of 21 research centres from 7 European countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain and the UK) and Australia (as non-member) is to exploit the possibilities that the Antarctica Plateau offers in order to build a large European astronomical observatory.
Frozen desert
Recent studies at Dome C, an inhospitable place at 3200m above sea level have shown that the Antarctic Plateau provides, in several respects, unique astronomical conditions from the ground to carry out astronomical observation. Carlos Abia and Inmaculada Domínguez, of the Department of Theoretical and Cosmos Physics of the University of Granada, have explained that Dome C is the best place on the Earth to perform astronomical IR observations, especially beyond thermal infrared, thanks to the excellent atmospheric transparency and stability, extremely low humidity, infrequent rainfall, and the virtual absence of winds and clouds.
According to researchers of the UGR, astronomical observations in thermal infrared (8 – 20 µm) are quite difficult, because the astronomical instruments themselves release radiation in the electromagnetic range of the spectrum, causing visual interference. This phenomenon is solved partly by cooling down equipment and instruments, but this is extremely expensive. However, this problem becomes negligible in Dome C because the mean annual temperature is -60°C.
Almost space technology
Spanish and Italian researchers have constructed IRAIT, which is a reflecting telescope with a diameter of 80cm, to perform in thermal infrared. Thanks to the sky-quality conditions at Dome C, IRAIT would be equivalent to a telescope with 2-3m diameter installed in any large present-day station. The group of “Stellar Evolution and Nucleosynthesis” of the UGR has designed mainly telescope optics and mirror-control systems.
IRAIT will perform observations to investigate the potential of Dome C as an IR astronomical observatory and to determine the kind of astronomy to be performed there. In relation to this latter objective of IRAIT, researchers of the UGR will study the final stages of stellar evolution, in particular AGB stars, in satellite galaxies of Magellanic Clouds—that is, stars which are in their final stage of stellar evolution and which release radiation in the IR. These astronomers will also study supernovas—exploding stars, which release huge amounts of energy—as there is little information in this range of the spectrum.
IRAIT will be delivered to Dumont d’Urville, on the Antarctic coast. From here, a tractor train will carry IRAIT to Concordia station. This is a journey of 1000km and it will last 15 days. The IRAIT telescope will be placed at about 500 m from the Concordia Station, on an compressed-ice platform with a height of 30m to avoid thermal interference and blowing ice crystals.
The Catalan Company NTE (Nuevas Tecnologías Espaciales, New Space Technologies) has designed and built the telescope optical systems. “IRAIT technology has been a challenge, because there are very few industries which can ensure the success of IRAIT without using space technology when temperatures are extreme”, researchers stated.
Reference
Profs. Carlos Abia Ladrón de Guevara & Inmaculada Domínguez Aguilera. Department of Theoretical and Cosmos Physics. University of Granada. Phone: +34 958 249 061 / +34 958 249 062 Email: ; inma@ugr.es
