The Stratospheric Terahertz Observatory is prepared for launch from the Long Duration Balloon facility on the McMurdo Ice Shelf in January 2012. The telescope carried high-tech "radios" to tune into the violent dust clouds from where stars are born in galaxies.
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Dust in the Wind
The balloon-borne Stratospheric Terahertz Observatory carries the world's most complicated high-frequency radios, but it doesn't tune into your favorite rock station. Instead, it will pick up the faint, high-frequency radio signals emitted by carbon atoms within violent interstellar clouds of gas and dust that are found in the Milky Way Galaxy.
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Scratching Beneath the Surface
A method originally developed to find groundwater in Denmark might have research applications in Antarctica, from mapping the geology of a unique valley system and determining the ecological relationships with the subsurface structures to finding geothermal connections between the marine system and an active volcano.
Embedded with scientists
Chris Linder has taken part in two dozen research expeditions over the last decade, many of them to the polar regions. It seemed only a matter of time before he produced a book on his experiences from four of those expeditions, including one to Antarctica and a visit with the continent's iconic bird, the Adélie penguin.
To the rescue
It only took about 10 minutes for the research vessel NATHANIEL B. PALMER to pull up its scientific instruments when the distress call came in at around 3:30 a.m. New Zealand time on Jan. 10. About 48 hours later, it had transported seven victims of a shipboard fire in the Ross Sea to the safety of McMurdo Station.
Preserving the Past
The Antarctic Heritage Trust is a New Zealand-based nonprofit organization devoted to conserving the historic structures built during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration at the turn of the 20th century. It will complete major restoration efforts to Capt. Robert Falcon Scott's expedition hut on the 100th anniversary of when he reached the South Pole.
