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Pages and Posts Tagged ‘South Pole Telescope’


Astronomy in Antarctica

Ask an astronomer to describe the perfect place to put a telescope, and here’s what she’ll tell you: Make it cold, make it dark, make it high-altitude, and make it remote. In short, make it Antarctica. {Read More »}


Leaving on the Very Last Plane

By Kathryn Schaffer Miknaitis · February 12, 2008 · comments No comments yet
The station is closing today. It is one day earlier than we were expecting, which means we have had a last-minute scramble to finish all of our tasks at the telescope. Bad weather is approaching… {Read More »}


Climactic Success

By Kathryn Schaffer Miknaitis · February 7, 2008 · comments No comments yet
Everyone here is breathing a huge sigh of relief. Last night was the first night that our new set of detectors were cold enough to be operated. Unlike the last few test runs, for this… {Read More »}


The Clock is Ticking

By Kathryn Schaffer Miknaitis · February 5, 2008 · comments No comments yet
I looked up at the weather screen today and saw that the temperature had dropped to -38 F (which is actually almost exactly equal to -38 degrees C). The windchill today is about -60F. The… {Read More »}


Order & Progress

By Kathryn Schaffer Miknaitis · February 3, 2008 · comments No comments yet
A few weeks ago, I posted pictures from a walking tour of the edges of the station. (To read that post, please click here.) Behind the station, construction materials, old scientific equipment, and curious miscellany… {Read More »}


SPT TV

By Kathryn Schaffer Miknaitis · January 19, 2008 · comments No comments yet
Last week, I had the opportunity to drive the telescope around a lot. We're not actively observing, but we are making many upgrades to the software that controls the telescope, and trying to debug little… {Read More »}


Our New Sunroof

By Kathryn Schaffer Miknaitis · January 5, 2008 · comments No comments yet
It's been a busy couple of weeks out at the telescope. SPT postdoc Brad Benson and graduate students Martin Lueker and Joaquin Vieira installed a new set of detectors into the SPT "receiver," which is… {Read More »}


What Passes for Weather

By Kathryn Schaffer Miknaitis · December 24, 2007 · comments No comments yet
We're guaranteed to have a white Christmas (of sorts) here at the South Pole. But it won't snow. It is normally too cold here for any form of precipitation. The snow on the ground here… {Read More »}


My Wild Ride

By Kathryn Schaffer Miknaitis · December 15, 2007 · comments 1 comment
For the last month, one of the major projects on the telescope has been measuring the surface of the 10-meter reflector and adjusting it carefully to create a very accurate surface. This entire project has… {Read More »}


Dirt and Decay in the Clean Land of Ice

By Kathryn Schaffer Miknaitis · December 11, 2007 · comments No comments yet
The South Pole is one of the cleanest places I have ever been. Outside, the environment is absolutely pristine and essentially unchanging. There is no soil, no solid ground, no vegetation or animal life for… {Read More »}

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