Amazing stuff! Can the West keep up with China?
"... Astronomers in China have now shown it’s possible to peer through this veil, with a small terahertz telescope in the world’s driest spot: Dome A, the highest point on a massive plateau more than 4 kilometers above sea level near the center of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet.
Last week, they reported seeing the faint glow of carbon in gas clouds within distant stellar nurseries, using two weeks’ worth of observations from the Antarctic Terahertz Explorer (ATE60), a prototype instrument with a dish 60 centimeters across. ..."
From the abstract:
"The cycling of carbon between its ionized, atomic, and molecular phases shapes the chemical compositions and physical conditions of the interstellar medium (ISM). However, ground-based studies of the full carbon cycle have been limited by atmospheric absorption.
Dome A, the most promising site for submillimeter astronomy, has long resisted successful submillimeter astronomical observations. Using the 60-centimeter Antarctic Terahertz Explorer, we present the first successful CO (4-3) and [CI] () mapping observations of two archetypal triggered massive star-formation regions at Dome A.
These data, together with archival [CII], provide the first complete characterization of all three carbon phases in these environments. We find elevated C0/CO abundance ratios in high-extinction regions, plausibly driven by deep penetration of intense radiation fields from massive stars into a clumpy ISM. These findings mark a major milestone for submillimeter astronomy at Dome A and offer valuable insights into the impact of massive star feedback on the surrounding ISM."
Overview of the observational site at Dome A. China’s tiny, 60-centimeter Antarctic Terahertz Explorer observatory
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