中国科学院南京天文光学技术研究所机构知识库

The extreme environment of Antarctic greatly benefits astronomical observations. Site testing works already show the excellent seeing and transmission on Dome C. And the higher, colder inland plateau Dome A is widely predicted as even better astronomical site than Dome C. Preliminary site testing carried out since the beginning of 2008 shows that Dome A has lower boundary layer and lower precipitable water vapour. Now the automated seeing monitor is urgently needed to quantify the site's optical character which is necessary for the telescope design and deployment. We modify the commercial telescopes with diameter of 35cm to function as site testing DIMM and make it monitor both seeing and isoplanatic angle at the same time automatically on Dome A at different height. Part of the processed data will be transferred back by Iridium satellite network every day. The first DIMM will be deployed on Dome A in early 2011.