Ridge A is a site in

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

that was identified in 2009 as the best suited location on the surface of Earth for astronomical research. The site, approximately from the

South Pole The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is the point in the Southern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True South Pole to distinguish ...

and southeast of

Dome A Dome A or Dome Argus is the highest ice dome on the Antarctic Plateau, located inland. It is thought to be the coldest naturally occurring place on Earth, with temperatures believed to reach . It is the highest ice feature in Antarctica, consi ...

, is situated in a portion of Antarctica claimed by Australia in the

Australian Antarctic Territory The Australian Antarctic Territory (AAT) is a part of East Antarctica claimed by Australia as an external territory. It is administered by the Australian Antarctic Division, an agency of the federal Department of Climate Change, Energy, the E ...

. The site is on the

Antarctic Plateau The Antarctic Plateau, Polar Plateau or King Haakon VII Plateau is a large area of East Antarctica that extends over a diameter of about , and includes the region of the geographic South Pole and the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station. Thi ...

at an altitude of , and has an average winter temperature of . It is possible that this site may have even lower temperatures than Dome A, with temperatures that might reach as low as or even colder than the ''legendary'' mark of -100°C (-148°F). Ridge A was identified by a team of Australian and American scientists searching for the best

observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysics, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. Th ...

spot in the world. The team leader described the site as "so calm there's almost no wind or weather there at all."Kenber, Billy
"Scientists identify coldest place on earth"
''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are often names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * The Telegraph (Adelaide), ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaid ...

'', September 1, 2009. Accessed September 9, 2009. Ridge A is a low ridge of ice and has been estimated to have very low disturbances to visibility, such as thick atmospheric boundary layer, amount of water vapour and numerous others. The site represents the " Eye of the Storm", whereby winds flowing off Antarctica in all directions appear to start from a point at Ridge A, where winds are at their calmest. It is also the site of a vortex in which swirling stratospheric winds high up and calm air at ground level combine to make it a place for viewing into space that is three times clearer than any other location on Earth.Casey, Scott
"The coldest, driest place in the world"
''

Brisbane Times ''Brisbane Times'' is an online newspaper for Brisbane and Queensland, Australia. It is owned and run by Nine Publishing, publishers of ''The Age'', ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' and other mastheads. As of 2024, the editor is Sean Parnell. H ...

'', September 2, 2009. Accessed September 9, 2009. Researchers on the project suggested that photographs taken through a telescope at Ridge A could be nearly as good as those taken by the

Hubble Space Telescope The Hubble Space Telescope (HST or Hubble) is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. It was not the Orbiting Solar Observatory, first space telescope, but it is one of the largest and most ...

. Despite the difficult conditions on Antarctica and the remote location of Ridge A, construction costs for an observatory there that could match the Hubble Space Telescope could be built at a fraction of the cost of sending Hubble into space. For several years, a second

Giant Magellan Telescope The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) is a ground-based, extremely large telescope currently under construction at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile's Atacama Desert. With a primary mirror diameter of 25.4 meters, it is expected to be the largest G ...

in Antarctica has been proposed.

Observatory

Since January 2012, a small international observatory, the High Elevation Antarctic Terahertz (HEAT) telescope, has operated at Ridge A, jointly run by American and Australian researchers. By virtue of the weather, this submillimetre or terahertz telescope is capable of observing wavelengths of light that rarely make it through the atmosphere to the ground anywhere else on Earth.

References

{{Antarctica Extreme points of Earth Astronomy in the Antarctic Proposed buildings and structures in Antarctica

Observatory

See also

References