After initial success in January 2008, Chinese astronomers will build a more powerful network of telescopes in Dome A at the top of the South Pole, the astronomer said at a workshop ending Thursday in Haining, east China’s Zhejiang province.
        On January 26, 2009, Chinese scientists set up an astronomical observatory in Antarctica. After initial success, in January they will build a more robust network of telescopes in Dome A at the top of the South Pole, the astronomer said at the symposium. July 23, Haining, Zhejiang Province.
        Gong Xuefei, an astronomer involved in the telescope project, told the Taiwan Strait Astronomical Instruments Forum that the new telescope is being tested and the first telescope is expected to be installed at the South Pole in the summer of 2010 and 2011. .
       Gong, a junior research fellow at the Nanjing Institute of Astronomical Optics, said the new Antarctic Schmidt Telescope 3 (AST3) network consists of three Schmidt telescopes with a 50 centimeter aperture.
       The previous network was the China Small Telescope Array (CSTAR), consisting of four 14.5 cm telescopes.
       Cui Xiangqun, head of the China National Aeronautics and Space Administration, told Xinhua News Agency that AST3′s main advantages over its predecessor are its large aperture and adjustable lens orientation, which allow it to observe space more deeply and track moving celestial bodies.
       Cui said AST3, which costs between 50 and 60 million yuan (approximately US$7.3 million to 8.8 million), will play a larger role in the search for Earth-like planets and hundreds of supernovae.
       Gong said the designers of the new telescope built on previous experience and took into account special conditions such as Antarctica’s low temperature and low pressure.
        The Antarctic region has a cold and dry climate, long polar nights, low wind speeds, and less dust, which are advantageous for astronomical observations. Dome A is an ideal viewing location, where telescopes can produce images of almost the same quality as telescopes in space, but at a much lower cost.