TY - JOUR
T1 - Scientific Goals of the Kunlun Infrared Sky Survey (KISS)
AU - Burton, Michael G.
AU - Zheng, Jessica
AU - Mould, Jeremy
AU - Cooke, Jeff
AU - Ireland, Michael
AU - Uddin, Syed Ashraf
AU - Zhang, Hui
AU - Yuan, Xiangyan
AU - Lawrence, Jon
AU - Ashley, Michael C.B.
AU - Wu, Xuefeng
AU - Curtin, Chris
AU - Wang, Lifan
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© Astronomical Society of Australia 2016.
PY - 2016/1/1
Y1 - 2016/1/1
N2 - The high Antarctic plateau provides exceptional conditions for infrared observations on account of the cold, dry and stable atmosphere above the ice surface. This paper describes the scientific goals behind the first program to examine the time-varying universe in the infrared from Antarctica-the Kunlun Infrared Sky Survey (KISS). This will employ a 50cm telescope to monitor the southern skies in the 2.4μmK dark window from China's Kunlun station at Dome A, on the summit of the Antarctic plateau, through the uninterrupted 4-month period of winter darkness. An earlier paper discussed optimisation of the K dark filter for sensitivity (Li et al. 2016). This paper examines the scientific program for KISS. We calculate the sensitivity of the camera for the extrema of observing conditions that will be encountered. We present the parameters for sample surveys that could then be carried out for a range of cadences and sensitivities. We then discuss several science programs that could be conducted with these capabilities, involving star formation, brown dwarfs and hot Jupiters, exoplanets around M dwarfs, the terminal phases of stellar evolution, fast transients, embedded supernova searches, reverberation mapping of AGN, gamma ray bursts and the detection of the cosmic infrared background.
AB - The high Antarctic plateau provides exceptional conditions for infrared observations on account of the cold, dry and stable atmosphere above the ice surface. This paper describes the scientific goals behind the first program to examine the time-varying universe in the infrared from Antarctica-the Kunlun Infrared Sky Survey (KISS). This will employ a 50cm telescope to monitor the southern skies in the 2.4μmK dark window from China's Kunlun station at Dome A, on the summit of the Antarctic plateau, through the uninterrupted 4-month period of winter darkness. An earlier paper discussed optimisation of the K dark filter for sensitivity (Li et al. 2016). This paper examines the scientific program for KISS. We calculate the sensitivity of the camera for the extrema of observing conditions that will be encountered. We present the parameters for sample surveys that could then be carried out for a range of cadences and sensitivities. We then discuss several science programs that could be conducted with these capabilities, involving star formation, brown dwarfs and hot Jupiters, exoplanets around M dwarfs, the terminal phases of stellar evolution, fast transients, embedded supernova searches, reverberation mapping of AGN, gamma ray bursts and the detection of the cosmic infrared background.
KW - infrared: general-stars: variable: general-stars: imaging-supernovae: general
KW - surveys
KW - telescopes
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84988353551&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/pasa.2016.38
DO - 10.1017/pasa.2016.38
M3 - Article
SN - 1323-3580
VL - 33
JO - Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia
JF - Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia
M1 - e047
ER -