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Project acronym: ARENA
Project full title: Antarctic Research, a European Network for Astrophysics
Contract no.: 026150
Co-ordination Action
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Project summary
The Antarctic plateau provides unique environmental conditions for astronomical observations. Astronomers are
seriously considering Antarctica as a possible site for the construction of a new large observatory mainly
dedicated to infrared and very high angular resolution observations to investigate extra-solar planets, the
formation and evolution of planets, stars and galaxies, and cosmology. Two Member States, Italy and France,
have recently completed the all-year round operated station CONCORDIA at Dome C, in the heart of
Antarctica.
The present programme is aimed to structure, reinforce and network several European laboratories and operators
involved or willing to be involved in Antarctic astronomical investigations with the final objective to set up state
of the art large instruments and focal plane equipment in the coming decade. The network consists of 4 activities
in addition of the overall management, NA1, i) NA2 concerns the site qualification, ii) NA3 aims to identify the
technical constraints on the design of large astronomical instruments for polar environment emphasizing
robotization, iii) NA4 fosters collaborations between the operators of CONCORDIA and their users to add value
to CONCORDIA, iv) NA5 focuses on the selection of appropriate key scientific programs, implemented in
synergy with other ground based observatories and space missions.
The project funds will therefore contribute to the currently on-going site qualification, and will help structuring
the still dispersed and scarce teams of European astronomers through the organization of specialized workshops
putting operators, users and industrial partners in close contact, and annual large international Conferences.
The networks will deliver a detailed report on the site qualification over a period of 5 years, industrial reports
and studies addressing the problems of building large instruments at Dome C, a book of carefully selected
scientific key-programmes, and recommendations on the timeline of instrumental developments.
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Project webpage: http://arena.unice.fr
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Start date: 1 January 2006
Duration: 36 months
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List of participants
Participant number
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Organization
Short name
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris, France
Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, Rome, Italy
Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Heidelberg, Germany
Astrophysikalisches Institut Potsdam, Germany
Universidad de Granada, Spain
Institut d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya, Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain
Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, Tenerife, Spain
University of Exeter, UK
Università degli Studi di Perugia, Italy
Institut Paul Emile Victor, Brest, France
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft und Raumfahrt, Berlin, Germany
Observatoire de Paris, France
Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique, Saclay, France
Institut d’Astrophysique et de Géophysique de Liège, Belgium
Programma Nazionale di Ricerche in Antartide, Rome, Italy
University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
SHAKTIWARE, Marseilles, France
AMOS, Liège, Belgium
SESO, Aix-en-Provence, France
Centro de Astrofisica da Universidade do Porto, Portugal
European Southern Observatory, Garching bei München, Germany
CNRS
INAF
MPIA
AIP
UGR
IEEC/CSIC
IAC
UNEXE
UNIPG
IPEV
DLR
OP
CEA
ULG
PNRA
UNSW
SHAK
AMOS
SESO
CAUP
ESO
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