Slashdot Mirror


Astronomers Find the Calmest Place On Earth

The Narrative Fallacy writes "Live Science reports that astronomers in search of the perfect site to take pictures of the heavens have combined data from satellites, ground stations and climate models in a study to assess the many factors that affect image quality — cloud cover, temperature, sky-brightness, water vapor, wind speeds and atmospheric turbulence. They have pinpointed the coldest, driest, calmest place on earth, known simply as Ridge A, 13,297 feet high on the Antarctic Plateau. 'It's so calm that there's almost no wind or weather there at all,' says study leader Will Saunders, of the Anglo-Australian Observatory. 'The astronomical images taken at Ridge A should be at least three times sharper than at the best sites currently used by astronomers.' Located within the Australian Antarctic Territory, the site is 89 miles from the PLATO (PLATeau Observatory) international robotic observatory. The new site would be superior to the best existing observatories on high mountain tops in Hawaii and Chile, Saunders says. 'Because the sky there is so much darker and drier, it means that a modestly-sized telescope would be as powerful as the largest telescopes anywhere else on earth.'"

7 of 231 comments (clear)

  1. Umm, right. by ColdWetDog · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's also in the Middle of Nowhere. So getting to it is going to be very expensive.

    Anyhow, we're on to you, Mr. I'm-extraordinarily-antisocial Astronomer. We are not going to support your social avoidance issues with a multimillion dollar playpen. Just take your meds!

    --
    Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
  2. Antarctica... by TheBilgeRat · · Score: 5, Funny

    Isn't that where the second Stargate resides?

  3. Miles? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    89 miles

    Could someone convert that into a number the rest of the world understands?

    1. Re:Miles? by oldspewey · · Score: 5, Funny

      It's 712 furlongs

      --
      If libertarians are so opposed to effective government, why don't they all move to Somalia?
    2. Re:Miles? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      89 miles

      Could someone convert that into a number the rest of the world understands?

      It's 0x59 miles.

  4. It has at least one thing going for it... by Zantac69 · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...the danger of fire is very low - take note, Mount Wilson Observatory!

    --
    1331461 is only semiprime *sigh* Alas - I am just short of 1337.
  5. Home on Ridge A by pavon · · Score: 5, Funny

    Oh, give me a home where the penguins roam
    And the frigid astronomers play
    Where seldom is heard a single word
    And the skies are not cloudy all day

    How often at night when the heavens are bright
    With the light from the glittering stars
    Have I stood there amazed and asked as I gazed
    If their glory exceeds that of ours

    Home, home on Ridge A
    And the frigid astronomers play
    Where seldom is heard a single word
    And the skies are not cloudy all day

    Where the air is so pure, the zephyrs so free
    The breezes so calm and light
    That I would not exchange my home on Ridge A
    For all of the cities so bright