Southern Exposure

Frost was skeptical. "It does not appear to me that there would be a special advantage in the establishment of an observation station at the South Pole for a year from an astronomical point of view," he replied.

Frost was wrong. As Chicago scientists have demonstrated over the past 8 years, the South Pole is one of the best places on Earth for practicing astronomy -- its cold, extremely dry climate, high elevation and transparent, stable atmosphere provide excellent observational conditions.

Chicago established its first telescope at the South Pole in 1986, 74 years after Frost's rejection of the site. Mark Dragovan (A.B.'80, Ph.D.'86), then a postdoctoral fellow at AT&T Bell Labs, collaborated with Yerkes engineer Bob Pernic to build a telescope to observe the early formation of structure in the universe -- a project they call the Cosmic Background Radiation Anisotropy (COBRA) experiment. That collaboration helped lead to the creation of the Center for Astrophysical Research in Antarctica (CARA), one of the largest scientific research endeavors on the Antarctic continent.

CARA was established in February 1991 with an 11-year mission as a National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center. It supports four major research projects at the South Pole -- including two experiments headed by University scientists -- as well as an educational initiative for high school students. CARA, which is headquartered at Yerkes and managed by the University, is directed by Al Harper, Professor in Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Harper is among the 17 Chicago scientists and engineers at the South Pole during the short Antarctic summer -- November through January -- to support CARA's operations. The season is the only time when equipment and supplies can be ferried in and out of the Pole and projects can be set up, moved or taken down.

One of CARA's main projects is the COBRA experiment, which is collecting data even when the sun is up at the Pole. The latest of the COBRA telescopes, Python, is designed to "see" at wavelengths of light we can't see with our eyes, those in the microwave region of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Looking at the cosmic microwave background radiation is like looking back in time to when the universe was forming. The temperature of the universe at that time was about 4,000 Kelvin, just slightly less than the current temperature of the surface of the sun. Over billions of years, as the universe has expanded, that radiation has cooled to only 3 degrees Kelvin.

This 3-degree glow is called the cosmic microwave background. Harper said, "If you could actually see in these wavelengths with your eyes, what you would see would be a glow coming from the entire sky, unlike the pinpoints of starlight we see in the night sky."

But what the Python researchers are trying to see is not just the glow itself, but the tiny inhomogeneities -- one part in 100,000 -- in that nearly uniform background. These are the "seeds" of structure in the universe, the tiny variations that scientists believe eventually evolved into the galaxies and other large-scale structures we see in the universe today.

Detecting such small variations requires incredibly precise instruments and a great deal of patience on the part of the researchers. But Dragovan and Pernic's gamble with the South Pole is paying off -- they have used Python to record some of the most significant measurements of the cosmic microwave background to date. The South Pole has proven to be 10 to 100 times better than any other terrestrial site for collecting microwave background measurements. And compared with outer space, the South Pole is more readily accessible; it costs less and takes much less time to implement a project there.

Dragovan, principal investigator on the project and now Visiting Associate Professor at Chicago, is at the Pole for the austral summer, collecting data and getting the Python telescope ready for its second winter season. Another Chicago project at the Pole gained national publicity last summer, when Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 plunged into Jupiter. E.B. Frost's 1912 reply to Admiral Peary was eerily prescient in one respect: although he generally didn't consider the South Pole a good site for an observatory, he acknowledged, "It might happen that a comet would appear in the southern heavens during the winter which could be observed more continuously at the polar station than elsewhere." When Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 hit Jupiter in July, Chicago's South Pole Infrared Explorer (SPIREX) telescope -- in its first Antarctic winter -- had the only continuous view of the weeklong event.

SPIREX, a 24-inch infrared telescope, provided dramatic pictures of the comet's fiery end and captured images of more than half of the 21 impact events. The only collisions it missed were those too faint to be seen, or those that occurred when the telescope was blinded by blowing snow.

This season, SPIREX will be moved from its current location -- a platform that will now house another CARA telescope -- to permanent headquarters attached to CARA's South Pole observatory.

Under the direction of Mark Hereld, Senior Research Associate in Astronomy & Astrophysics, SPIREX will continue to search for faint signals from distant galaxies to try to understand how galaxies are born, how they mature and how they die. Jamie Lloyd, Research Specialist in Astronomy & Astrophysics, will operate SPIREX during Antarctica's winter.

Back in Chicago, some of CARA's younger affiliates will be communicating with the scientists at the South Pole over the Internet this month, sending e-mail back and forth to the South Pole. Jim Sweitzer, CARA's Assistant Director, oversees the educational-outreach arm of CARA. Under the Science and Technology Center grant, CARA is charged with providing educational programs for students in grades K-12.

These "Space Explorers," 30 Chicago high school students, spend two afternoons a week on campus learning about astronomy, physics and math from University faculty members and graduate students.

On Tuesday, Jan. 10, the Space Explorers will be part of a live, nationwide broadcast with Sweitzer and Hereld -- who will be at the South Pole -- called "Live From Antarctica" (see On the Air, page 7). The Space Explorers will teach students around the country what they know about infrared astronomy, and they will be able to interact with and ask questions of the researchers at the Pole.

CARA still has seven years left in its 11-year life span, and it's not clear what will happen at the end of that time. Director Harper said, "I think we're proving that the South Pole is an excellent site for astronomy research. We've found that the problems -- although significant -- are not so substantial that they could keep us from developing an effective program."

Harper said he sees a couple of options: The NSF may reopen bids for Science and Technology Centers and allow established centers to compete again for funding, or the South Pole may become a more international observation site. CARA is collaborating with teams from other nations to explore other parts of the Antarctic continent -- at higher elevations -- as possible sites for a major observatory.

-- Diana Steele In a letter written more than 80 years ago to E.B. Frost, then Director of the University's Yerkes Observatory, arctic explorer Admiral Robert Peary wrote, "I shall be much indebted if you will kindly write me your views as to the value and desirability of such observations in the field of astronomy, as could be taken during a year of continuous occupation of the South Pole as a scientific station by an expert observer."

Frost was skeptical. "It does not appear to me that there would be a special advantage in the establishment of an observation station at the South Pole for a year from an astronomical point of view," he replied.

Frost was wrong. As Chicago scientists have demonstrated over the past 8 years, the South Pole is one of the best places on Earth for practicing astronomy -- its cold, extremely dry climate, high elevation and transparent, stable atmosphere provide excellent observational conditions.

Chicago established its first telescope at the South Pole in 1986, 74 years after Frost's rejection of the site. Mark Dragovan (A.B.'80, Ph.D.'86), then a postdoctoral fellow at AT&T Bell Labs, collaborated with Yerkes engineer Bob Pernic to build a telescope to observe the early formation of structure in the universe -- a project they call the Cosmic Background Radiation Anisotropy (COBRA) experiment. That collaboration helped lead to the creation of the Center for Astrophysical Research in Antarctica (CARA), one of the largest scientific research endeavors on the Antarctic continent.

CARA was established in February 1991 with an 11-year mission as a National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center. It supports four major research projects at the South Pole -- including two experiments headed by University scientists -- as well as an educational initiative for high school students. CARA, which is headquartered at Yerkes and managed by the University, is directed by Al Harper, Professor in Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Harper is among the 17 Chicago scientists and engineers at the South Pole during the short Antarctic summer -- November through January -- to support CARA's operations. The season is the only time when equipment and supplies can be ferried in and out of the Pole and projects can be set up, moved or taken down.

One of CARA's main projects is the COBRA experiment, which is collecting data even when the sun is up at the Pole. The latest of the COBRA telescopes, Python, is designed to "see" at wavelengths of light we can't see with our eyes, those in the microwave region of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Looking at the cosmic microwave background radiation is like looking back in time to when the universe was forming. The temperature of the universe at that time was about 4,000 Kelvin, just slightly less than the current temperature of the surface of the sun. Over billions of years, as the universe has expanded, that radiation has cooled to only 3 degrees Kelvin.

This 3-degree glow is called the cosmic microwave background. Harper said, "If you could actually see in these wavelengths with your eyes, what you would see would be a glow coming from the entire sky, unlike the pinpoints of starlight we see in the night sky."

But what the Python researchers are trying to see is not just the glow itself, but the tiny inhomogeneities -- one part in 100,000 -- in that nearly uniform background. These are the "seeds" of structure in the universe, the tiny variations that scientists believe eventually evolved into the galaxies and other large-scale structures we see in the universe today.

Detecting such small variations requires incredibly precise instruments and a great deal of patience on the part of the researchers. But Dragovan and Pernic's gamble with the South Pole is paying off -- they have used Python to record some of the most significant measurements of the cosmic microwave background to date. The South Pole has proven to be 10 to 100 times better than any other terrestrial site for collecting microwave background measurements. And compared with outer space, the South Pole is more readily accessible; it costs less and takes much less time to implement a project there.

Dragovan, principal investigator on the project and now Visiting Associate Professor at Chicago, is at the Pole for the austral summer, collecting data and getting the Python telescope ready for its second winter season. Another Chicago project at the Pole gained national publicity last summer, when Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 plunged into Jupiter. E.B. Frost's 1912 reply to Admiral Peary was eerily prescient in one respect: although he generally didn't consider the South Pole a good site for an observatory, he acknowledged, "It might happen that a comet would appear in the southern heavens during the winter which could be observed more continuously at the polar station than elsewhere." When Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 hit Jupiter in July, Chicago's South Pole Infrared Explorer (SPIREX) telescope -- in its first Antarctic winter -- had the only continuous view of the weeklong event.

SPIREX, a 24-inch infrared telescope, provided dramatic pictures of the comet's fiery end and captured images of more than half of the 21 impact events. The only collisions it missed were those too faint to be seen, or those that occurred when the telescope was blinded by blowing snow.

This season, SPIREX will be moved from its current location -- a platform that will now house another CARA telescope -- to permanent headquarters attached to CARA's South Pole observatory.

Under the direction of Mark Hereld, Senior Research Associate in Astronomy & Astrophysics, SPIREX will continue to search for faint signals from distant galaxies to try to understand how galaxies are born, how they mature and how they die. Jamie Lloyd, Research Specialist in Astronomy & Astrophysics, will operate SPIREX during Antarctica's winter.

Back in Chicago, some of CARA's younger affiliates will be communicating with the scientists at the South Pole over the Internet this month, sending e-mail back and forth to the South Pole. Jim Sweitzer, CARA's Assistant Director, oversees the educational-outreach arm of CARA. Under the Science and Technology Center grant, CARA is charged with providing educational programs for students in grades K-12.

These "Space Explorers," 30 Chicago high school students, spend two afternoons a week on campus learning about astronomy, physics and math from University faculty members and graduate students.

On Tuesday, Jan. 10, the Space Explorers will be part of a live, nationwide broadcast with Sweitzer and Hereld -- who will be at the South Pole -- called "Live From Antarctica" (see On the Air, page 7). The Space Explorers will teach students around the country what they know about infrared astronomy, and they will be able to interact with and ask questions of the researchers at the Pole.

CARA still has seven years left in its 11-year life span, and it's not clear what will happen at the end of that time. Director Harper said, "I think we're proving that the South Pole is an excellent site for astronomy research. We've found that the problems -- although significant -- are not so substantial that they could keep us from developing an effective program."

Harper said he sees a couple of options: The NSF may reopen bids for Science and Technology Centers and allow established centers to compete again for funding, or the South Pole may become a more international observation site. CARA is collaborating with teams from other nations to explore other parts of the Antarctic continent -- at higher elevations -- as possible sites for a major observatory.

-- Diana Steele