We discuss how a wide field imager with very high spatial resolution on a relatively small telescope–but located in an observing site with very good seeing–might constrain the fraction of binary stars in Galactic globular clusters. We also mention the role that the new data might play in investigating advanced evolutionary phases of low-mass stars. Moreover, we discuss the role that an Extremely Large Telescope might have on the longstanding problem of cosmic distances and stellar populations. In particular, we discuss the impact that the detection of Cepheids in galaxies at the distance of the Coma cluster and of RR Lyrae stars in galaxies at the distance of the Virgo cluster might have on the calibration of secondary distance indicators.

Several very large surveys of stars, gas and dust in the MagellanicClouds have resulted in publicly accessible databases that providevaluable constraints as well as starting points for basicextragalactic research from proposed facilities in Antarctica.

Antarctica in general, and the Antarctic plateau in particular offers significant gains for astronomical observations as detailed in this book. Here the prospects for extra-galactic astronomy from Antarctica and in particular Dome C, in the relatively near future is critically examined. It is clear that Dome C will provide a very good site for certain types of observations, and reverberation mapping of Active Galactic Nuclei, observation of transient phenomena such as supernovae and gamma-ray bursts, and wide-field thermal IR imaging of VISTA fields are very interesting topics for a modest facility at Dome C. While it is clear that Dome C promises to offer significant gains for survey astronomy in the near- and thermal-IR and has the potential to be the premier site for wide field NIR And MIR imaging surveys from the ground, I highlight the obstacles both in form of technical challenges and sky coverage.

Surveys provide a wealth of data to the astronomical community that are used well after their completion. In this paper, we propose a project that would take the maximum benefit of Dome C in Antarctica by performing two surveys, in the wavelength range from 1–5 µm, complementary to SNAP space surveys. The first one over 1000 sq. deg. (1 KdF) for 4 years and the second one over 15 sq. deg (SNAP-IR) for the next 4 years at the same time as SNAP 0.35–1.7 µm survey. By using a Ground-Layer Adaptive Optics system, we would be able to recover, at the ice level and over at least half a degree in radius, the ~300 mas angular resolution available above the 30-m high turbulent layer. Such a survey, combining a high angular resolution with high sensitivities in the NIR and MIR, should also play the role of a pre-survey for JWST and ALMA.

I present a key project relative to the determination of thephysical characteristics of the circumstellar disks around low massyoung stellar objects (YSOs) and young brown dwarfs, that could bedeveloped from the Antarctic Plateau at Dome Concordia station witha 2–3 m class telescope equipped with a mid-infrared camera.

Late-type MS stars display optical variability on different time scales due to the presence of photospheric brightness inhomogeneities produced by surface magnetic fields, analogous to cool spots and bright faculae observed in the Sun. We are developing methods to model the optical variability of main-sequence late-type stars to understand the impact of solar-like activity on the detection of planetary transits and to significantly improve the detection efficiency. Our techniques will also allow to map the longitude distribution of active regions on stars that harbor planets and to look for a possible connection between stellar activity and the presence of planets around a star. 


The huge amount of CCD photometric data collected by robotic telescopes (as for instance the ICE-T telescope to be installed at Dome-C) requires a fully automated approach to the reduction and analysis procedures. To this end, we are developing a pipeline, making use of IRAF, DAOPHOTII and tasks build up by us, which will enable to automatically extract differential magnitude time series. Both aperture and PSF photometry methods are used to build a proper sample of comparison stars, with the best method between the two being automatically selected. Finally, the search of rotational periods is performed. To test our package, we present results obtained using a 4-year dataset of a field in the Orion Nebula Cluster (ONC) containing about 350 stars (150 of which turned out to be periodic variables).

White dwarfs are well studied objects. The relative simplicity oftheir physics allows to obtain very detailed models which can beultimately compared with their observed properties. Among them thereis a specific class of stars, the ZZ–Ceti stars that arecharacterized by the extreme stability of their periods ofpulsation. The rate of change of the period is closely related to thecharacteristic cooling time of the star, which can be accuratelycomputed. This property not only allows to directly test the evolutionof white dwarfs but also to constrain parameters of any new physicaltheory able to perturb the cooling regime. This technique has beensuccessfuly aplied to the case of axions and can be used to constrainthe properties of other theoretical particles. The program we proposehere consists in using the ability of the Antartic plateau to performlong time and non–interrupted observations to establish theseismological properties of a well defined set of variable whitedwarfs (and other stable pulsators).

Antarctica offers probably the best ground-based conditions for observing in the 1–3 μm region, and may thus be considered as an alternative to Space for this domain. We examine the potential of integral-field spectro-photometry over wide areas of the sky in this wavelength range for the study of carbon stars, that seems promising. On the other hand,the conditions of transparency, background, and their short-time stability from Antarctic sites still need to be evaluated.

Dome C CONCORDIA is the best ground site to perform deep, large scale, diffraction limited imaging surveys in the thermal infrared, in particular in the Kd and L bands. A first iteration of a roadmap that could lead to the set up of a dedicated survey telescope (AMIDST concept) is briefly outlined.

We discuss our ideas how to make best use of the Antarctica Dome Csite equipped with a 2.4 m infrared telescope (“Hubble on the ground”),including day time observations of the Magellanic Clouds in the 3 monthsAntarctic Summer.

The outstanding atmospheric conditions of the Dôme C give a unique opportunity to survey the sky in the thermal infrared reaching interestingsensitivity limits for extragalactic astronomy. It will allow to survey the very obscured region of the Galactic Plane, to detect numerousUltra-Luminous InfraRed Galaxies, a class of extremely powerful galaxies in the infrared wavelengths.The detection of individual Cepheids in nearby galaxies will be possible and will lead to eliminate a biais in the determination of the extragalactic distances scale.Our extragalactic database HyperLeda will benefit from new infrared data.


The characteristics required of a Dome-C widefield IR imaging facility in order to compete with ground and space-based telescopes are discussed. Although the K-dark filter offers an opportunity for a 2 m-class facility to compete with much larger survey telescopes, a diameter approaching 8 m together with an ambitious focal plane are required if such a facility is to be competitive with near-term space facilities in the thermal IR. 


The IRAIT (International Robotic Antarctic Infrared Telescope) telescope will be the first European infrared telescope operated on the Antarctic Plateau. The main IRAIT Focal Plane Instrument is AMICA (Antarctic Multiband Infrared CAmera), a two-detector instrument designed to operate in the Near- and Mid-infrared (2-28 µm) regions. IRAIT will start operation during the2007–2008 Antarctic campaign, though the instrumentation will reach Antarctica one year before, at the end of 2006. It will offer a unique opportunity to test the science that can be done from Dome C (in this sense it is a precursor for larger facilities as PILOT). We briefly describe the telescope and its auxiliary equipment, and we presentexample of the kind of science that will be feasible with this infrared observatory of moderate size.

AMICA (Antarctic Multiband Infrared CAmera) is an instrument designed to perform astronomicalimaging in the near- (1-5 μm) andmid- (5–27 μm) infrared wavelength regions. Equipped with two detectors, an InSb 2562 and a Si:As 1282 IBC, cooled at 35 and 7 K respectively, it will be the first instrument to investigate the potential of the Italian-French base Concordia for IR astronomy. The main technical challenge is represented by the extreme conditions of Dome C (T ~ -90 °C, p ~ 640mbar). An environmental control system ensures the correct start-up, shut-down and housekeeping of the various components of the camera.AMICA will be mounted on the IRAIT telescope and will perform survey-mode observations in the Southern sky. The first task is to provide important site-quality data. Substantial contributions to the solution of fundamental astrophysical quests, such as those related to late phases of stellar evolution and to star formation processes, are also expected.

The IRAIT (International Robotic Antarctic Infrared Telescope) project(Tosti et al. , 2006, Proc. 6267-29 V. 2) is based on a 80 cm aperturetelescope to observe in the infrared range. It is due to start operationsin spring 2008, several months after installation in Dome C (Antarctica).We present the contributions made to such project by the Institute forSpace Studies of Catalonia (IEEC) and the University of Granada, whoseparticipation is mainly focused in developing the moving optical systemfor the secondary (M2) and tertiary (M3) mirrors of the telescope. Movingparts of the optical system provide focusing and chopping capabilities,implemented in M2, and a rotation mechanism, implemented in M3, allowobservation in either Nasmyth foci. The work package includes the designand construction of both mirrors, the mechanical supports, the electronicsand the control software, all prepared to work at the low temperatures atAntarctica. A Spanish company, NTE, was contracted to carry out the designand manufacture. Tests at low temperature and integration in the telescopehave been done during summer 2006.


We present “A STEP” (Antarctica Search for Transiting ExtrasolarPlanets), a project dedicated to the search for planetary transitsfrom Antartica. The project consists of a semi-automatic ~40 cmtelescope equipped with a 16-million-pixel CCD installed at DomeC. The site offers crucial assets for a ground-based exoplanet transitsearch: uninterrupted phase coverage, excellent weather, low air-massvariations and reduced scintillation.
This system would be able to detect Pegasids transiting in front ofstars as faint as magnitude sixteen and could also detect smallerplanets in close-in period around brighter stars. This short termproject is meant to be a photometric qualifyer for the site and thefirst stage of a massive detection campaign. A mid-term objective of1000 detections for 2012 could be achieved either with many smalltelescopes or with a large Schmidt telescope with a large field ofview.
The project is relatively simple and cost-effective, and has thedouble purpose of qualifying the site and obtaining first-classscientific results. Our team is already familiar with transitdetection with an automated telescope and cold temperaturequalification.


The low scintillation noise and the long continuous darkness areamong the unique properties of the Dome-C site on the eastAntarctic plateau. Ultra-high precision optical photometry istherefore among the techniques best suited for this particularsite. We propose a telescope (ICE-T) optimized for ultra-high andultra wide field photometry for Dome C. It consists of two 60 cmoptical ultra-wide-field Wynne-Schmidt telescopes and one 18 cmnarrow-field Maksutov spectrophotometric telescope on a singlemount. ICE-T is currently a team effort of the GermanAlfred-Wegener-Institute for Polar Research, the ItalianUniversities of Padova and Perugia, the INAF Observatory Catania,and the Catalonian IEEC in Barcelona, Spain, and the AIP, withcollaboration from the University of New South Wales, Australiaand the University of St. Andrews, UK. In this paper, I discusssome of the many problems associated with sub-milli-magphotometry.

SIAMOIS is a project devoted to ground-based asteroseismology,involving a small collector and an instrument to be installed at the Dome C Concordia station in Antarctica. After the space project CoRoT, SIAMOIS willprovide unique Doppler information on G and K type bright stars on the main sequence. Spectrometric observations with SIAMOIS will be able to detect oscillation modes that cannot beanalyzed in photometry, and will be less affected by stellaractivity noise.The SIAMOIS concept is based on Fourier Transform interferometry.Such a principle leads to a small instrument designed anddeveloped for the harsh conditions in Antarctica. The instrumentwill be fully automatic, with no moving parts, and a very simpleinitial set up at Dome C.Dome C appears to be the ideal place for ground-basedasteroseismic observations. The unequalled weather conditionsyield a duty cycle as high as 90% over 3 months, as was observedduring the 2006 wintering. This high duty cycle, a crucial pointfor asteroseismology, is comparable to the best space-basedobservations. Long time series (up to 3 months) will be possible,thanks to the long duration of the polar night.SIAMOIS can be seen as one of the very first astronomicalprojects to be conducted at Dome C. Its scientific programme will take full advantage of the unique quality of this site, and will constitute a necessary first step in preparation of future more ambitious programmes requiring more sophisticated instrumentation and larger collectors.


The paper starts from the rationale, already presented in 2004 at the firstToulouse meeting on astronomy at Dome C, to propose an infrared, wide-fieldImaging FTS (IFTS) as a first generation instrument behind a 2 to 3 moptical telescope. Such an instrument could fully take advantage of all theproperties of the site for imagery and spectroscopy and offer an instrumentpresently needed after the numerous imaging surveys. Simulations have beenconducted to define the range of field size and of resolution which couldbe reachable. Then, derived from the study of H2 Explorer (H2EX) an IFTSfor a space project, an optical design for a 2 to 25 μm instrument,imaging a 10'×10' field, has been developed, based on a dual ouputinterferometer, using cat's eyes retroreflectors in its arms. With amaximum optical path difference (OPD) of 30 cm a spectral resolution of105 at 2 μm (20 000 at 25 μm) is possible with this fieldsize, behind a PILOT-type telescope (2.4 m) and a minimum beam size of80 mm within the interferometer. With the same optics and the samemechanism of control of the OPD, two interchangeable beamsplitters (2 to5.5 μm and 6 to 25 μm) and the corresponding detector arrays (InSband Si:As) cover the entire spectral range. Theinstrument must be cryogenic (temperature around 50 K) to make the thermalbackground from the optics negligible. The best sensitivity is obtainedthrough narrow-band filters (2%) isolating lines in emission-lineregions. Such a survey instrument has never been built before. It calls fora dedicated telescope for the best use of this type of instrument on theDome C site.