Terahertz and Spitzer Legacy Field Observations with the Antarctic Submillimeter Telescope and Remote Observatory (AST/RO)

使用南极亚毫米望远镜和远程天文台 (AST/RO) 进行太赫兹和斯皮策传统现场观测

• 批准号: 0441756
• 负责人: Antony Stark
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Smithsonian Institution Astrophysical Observatory
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-08-01 至 2008-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0441756&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Terahertz; Spitzer; Legacy; Field; Observations

The Antarctic Submillimeter Telescope and Remote Observatory (AST/RO) is a 1.7 m diameter single-dish instrument, which is fully operational at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in several Terahertz, submillimeter-wave, and millimeter-wave bands. AST/RO is one of only two Terahertz observatories in the world, and has two Terahertz instruments, the Terahertz Receiver with NbN HEB Device (TREND) and the South Pole Imaging Fabry-Perot Interferometer (SPIFI), currently operational on the telescope. AST/RO has recently completed two key observatory projects which demonstrate its unique capabilities for mapping the dominant cooling lines of molecular material in the Milky Way. AST/RO has observed these lines with arcminute resolution over regions of sky which are several degrees in size. Radiative transfer models based on these measurements can determine the internal thermodynamic properties of molecular clouds, providing insights about the star formation process and the dynamics of cloud formation and destruction in the Galactic environment. For example, the Galactic Center key project data show that the smooth ring of molecular material 150 parsecs from the Galactic Center is on the verge of coagulating into a single, massive molecular cloud like the one surrounding Sgr B2, and will undergo a burst of star formation. The AST/RO project has observed, reduced, published and publicly released on the Internet a large fraction of all spectral line observations in the frequency octave from 450 to 900 GHz. The proven capabilities of AST/RO will provide critical collaborative observations for the newly-launched Spitzer Space Telescope (SST, see http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu).

南极亚毫米波望远镜和远程观测台（AST/RO）是一个直径为1.7米的单碟仪器，在阿蒙森-斯科特南极站以几个太赫兹、亚毫米波和毫米波波段全面运行。AST/RO是世界上仅有的两个太赫兹天文台之一，拥有两个太赫兹仪器，即具有NbN HEB设备的太赫兹接收器（TREND）和南极成像法布里-珀罗干涉仪（SPIFI），目前正在望远镜上运行。AST/RO最近完成了两个关键的观测项目，展示了其绘制银河系分子物质主要冷却线的独特能力。AST/RO已经在天空中几度大小的区域上以角分分辨率观测到了这些线。基于这些测量的辐射传输模型可以确定分子云的内部热力学性质，提供有关星星形成过程和银河系环境中云形成和破坏的动力学的见解。例如，银河系中心重点项目数据显示，距离银河系中心150秒差距的分子物质光滑环即将变成一个单一的大质量分子云，就像围绕着Sgr B2的分子云一样，并将经历一次星星形成的爆发。AST/RO项目已经观测、减少、公布并在互联网上公开发布了450至900 GHz倍频程的所有谱线观测结果的很大一部分。AST/RO经过验证的能力将为新发射的斯皮策太空望远镜（SST，见http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu）提供关键的合作观测。