Antarctic Submillimeter Telescope and Remote Observatory (AST/RO)
AST/RO is a 1.7m diameter telescope that operated at the south pole between January 1995 and December 2005. The AST/RO facility (shown in photo, with the main base and an LC-130 aircraft in the background) was part of CARA: Center for Astrophysical Research in Antarctica. The AST/RO telescope was designed by Antony A. Stark of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. You can find the optical and mechanical properties of the telescope described in Stark et al. (1997), and other aspects of observatory operations in Stark et al. (2001).
B-strip Survey
AST/RO was used to perform a survey of the inner 3° of the Galactic Center in the following transitions.
- 461 GHz CO J=4-3
- 807 GHz CO J=7-6
- 492 GHz [CI] 3P1-3P0
The survey dimensions are:
Longitude: -1.3 < l < +2.0
Latitude: -0.3 < b < +0.2
Velocity: -249.5km/s < v < +249.5km/s
The maps have 0.5' spacing and have been smoothed to 1 km/s channels.
Related Papers
The AST/RO Survey of the Galactic Center Region. I. The Inner 3 Degrees
Martin, C.L.; Walsh, W.M.; Xiao, K., Lane, A.P., Walker, C.K. & Stark, A.A., 2004, ApJS, 150, 239M
Antarctic Submillimeter Telescope and Remote Observatory Observations of 12CO J=4-3 Emission from the N44 Complex in the Large Magellanic Cloud
Kim, S. Walsh, W., Xiao, K., 2004, ApJ, 616, 865K
AST/RO 13CO(J = 2-1) and 12CO(J = 4-3) Mapping of Southern Spitzer c2d Small Clouds and Cores
Löhr, A., Bourke, T.L., Lane, A.P., Myers, P.C., Parshley, S.C., Stark, A.A. & Tothill, N. F., 2007, ApJS, 171, 478L
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