Introduction

The Antarctic plateau provides unique conditions on the Earth for the conduct of observational astronomy. The air is thin, dry and cold and the weather stable; attributes all offering significant sensitivity gains over temperate latitude sites. These conditions are utterly different to those experienced at Antarctic coastal locations, where high winds and violent storms are not infrequent. The plateau is over 3,000m in elevation, rising to over 4,200m at Dome A. An average year-round temperature of C, falling to C at times, vastly reduces the thermal background in the near-IR (see, for instance, Valenziano & Dall'Oglio (1999) for meteorological data from Dome C). A reduced particulate content of the atmosphere lowers the emissivity of the atmosphere in the mid-IR, reducing backgrounds still further. The precipitable water vapour content of the air is typically around 250m (Chamberlin, Lane & Stark, 1997) and can fall below 100m, opening up new windows in the infrared and sub-millimetre regimes to ground-based observation. The lack of diurnal temperature variations at the Pole and the low wind speeds on the highest parts of the Antarctic plateau provide conditions of extraordinary stability, benefiting a wide range of observational programs.

Taken together these conditions provide for an unsurpassed observing environment for Earth-based astronomers across wide ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum, enabling science programs that could only be tackled elsewhere with significantly more expensive facilities. In particular, Antarctic telescopes will greatly facilitate the pursuit of ``formation studies'', through new observations in the infrared to millimetre spectral range. These include the study of events such as the formation of galaxies, the birth of the first stars in them and their subsequent evolution, the life cycle of the interstellar medium and the formation of individual stars and planets in our Galaxy. The primary reasons for this are that the continuum emission from these events peaks in the IR and the dominant cooling lines occur across this spectral regime.

In the remainder of this article we outline the results of the site-testing programs that have quantified the site conditions at the South Pole, and then discuss five science programs which could exploit this unique environment: studies of the large scale environment of star forming complexes, complete determinations of the embedded stellar population within star forming regions, surveys for proto-galaxies, searches for gravitational lensing from stars and planetary systems towards the galactic centre, and interferometric imaging of proto-planetary clouds and Jovian planets towards nearby stars. We end by discussing the route through which such a science program could be developed, and the complementarity it has with international plans for future space observatories. We examine the relative gains of intermediate-scale (2m class) and large (8m class) Antarctic telescopes in comparison to existing temperate latitude facilities, and also consider the role that an infrared interferometer might play in future developments on the plateau. This paper furthers the discussion from the conference presentation of Burton, Storey & Ashley (2000).

© Copyright Astronomical Society of Australia 1997