The University of Chicago in collaboration with Princeton University, AT&T Bell Laboratories and other institutions, will establish a Science and Technology Center for Astrophysical Research in Antarctica. The Center will be directed by Professor D. A. Harper. Infrared and submillimeter astronomy have the potential for unlocking some of the major questions concerning the formation of the Universe, including inhomogeneities in the cosmic microwave background radiation, the processes by which stars form from interstellar gas, the formation of planets, the observation of primeval galaxies, and the inhomogeneous distribution of matter and energy in the early Universe. The goal of the Center is to establish an observatory at the South Pole with three major instruments designed to probe the far reaches of the Universe at wavelengths ranging from 2 to 3000 microns. Three experiments will be set up as follows: ASTRO (Antarctic Submillimeter Telescope and Remote Observatory) will use a 1.7 meter diameter submillimeter telescope whis is already being built to make a survey of the Galactic plane, the Galactic Center and the Magellanic Clouds using the emission from the fine-structure line of carbon at 609 microns and the line of carbon monoxide at 650 microns. SPIREX (South Pole Infrared Explorer) will use an existing 60 centimeter diameter near-infrared telescope to explore the potential of the South Pole as an infrared site and to make initial deep 2.4 micron continuum surveys for primeval galaxies and brown dwarf stars. This spectral window is also located within a "hole" in the celestial background and may afford the most sensitive view of light from galaxies forming in the early universe. At this wavelength, a South Pole telescope will be more sensitive than the Hubble telescope and 200 times more sensitive than a ground-based telescope at a mid-latitude site. COBRA (Cosmic Background Radiation Anisotropy) is an instrument to be built that will search for and map anisotropies in the Cosmic Background Radiation on angular scales ranging from 15 arcminutes to 20 degrees at sufficient sensitivity to definitively test current theories of the origin of the Universe. The significance of this Center is that it will provide facilities to enable measurements at wavelengths that are badly hampered by the absorption and emission of the Earth's atmosphere. Nowhere on Earth are the infrared skies clearer or darker than above the Antarctic Plateau mainly due to a lack of water vapor in the air. It will overcome the diurnal variations in temperature that lead to atmospheric noise and wind at higher latitudes, and much of the infrared background radiation. (The decrease in environmental temperature from 300K to 210-230 K results in an enormous decrease in background radiation.) The elevation of the Antarctic plateau will significantly reduce the atmospheric path the light must traverse. The geographic singularity of a Polar site also allows a unique opportunity to reduce systematic errors in searches for cosmic microwave background anisotropies. All these factors should combine to improve the observing conditions by a factor of 10 to 100.
