China will set in Antarctica two telescopes to study planets and stars
BEIJING, 9 Mar — RIA Novosti, Ivan Bulatov. China plans to install at the highest point of Antarctica — Dome Argus, two powerful telescope for studying the stars and planets, told the newspaper “Cazzi daily” academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Cui Canzoni.
Point Dome Argus, located in Antarctica at the height 4083 feet above sea level. Point Dome Argus is the Chinese scientific research station “Kunlun”.
“The plan to build a 2.5-metre telescope, Kunlun Dark Universe Survey Telescope (KDUST) and five-meter Dome A Terahertz Explorer (DATE5) is important to create your own Observatory of China in Antarctica, which may help to solve scientific problems, including those associated with the origin of life and the emergence of the Universe,” said Tsui Cancun.
According to the scientist, the creation of an Observatory in Antarctica will also help China in the search for Earth-like planets outside the Solar system.
The KDUST telescope is an infrared optical telescope to study the planets of the milky way, similar to Earth. The telescope is scheduled to be completed in 2020. The DATE5 telescope will have in the future to study the birth of stars in the Universe.
To date, China has in Antarctica, there are four research stations: “Qiancheng”, “Zhongshan”, “Kunlun” and “Taishan”. The latter was opened in 2014, for its construction took only 45 days
The first scientific expedition was sent from China to the ice continent in 1984.
Earlier it was reported that Chinese researchers has completed the site selection, where it will build the fifth Antarctic research station of China. The optimal choice of the site was completed in the framework of the 33rd Antarctic expedition. The station will be located in the Ross sea, the exact coordinates are not given.