I hate all science reporters. "Astronomers in China have now shown it’s possible to peer through this veil, with a small terahertz telescope in the world’s driest spot..." "In prioritizing...
I hate all science reporters.
"Astronomers in China have now shown it’s possible to peer through this veil, with a small terahertz telescope in the world’s driest spot..."
"In prioritizing terahertz telescopes, China “was trying to find a niche where no one else could compete,” says astronomer Michael Burton..."
--and so on, absolutely presenting this as a brand new thing that no one has ever tried before.
So I searched for more information about it, and I immediately discovered that U of Arizona and U of South Wales have had exactly this for over a decade, a 60cm terzhertz-band telescope all of a 150 km away from this new one, and yet somehow also located at "the highest, driest spot" on the East Antarctic Ice Sheet....
I don't mind, but I'm not optimistic about a correction. It's possible they just didn't do any background research, but the article reads like they actually knew about it, and carefully worded...
I don't mind, but I'm not optimistic about a correction. It's possible they just didn't do any background research, but the article reads like they actually knew about it, and carefully worded everything in the article to avoid mentioning the HEAT project, w/o explicitly saying anything untrue.
The HEAT telescope did make some observations but they were never published, so scientists have found it hard to determine exactly what HEAT accomplished. I probably should have mentioned HEAT in the story.
It is very difficult for astronomers to scan the terahertz frequencies between infrared and radio waves because water vapor in Earth’s atmosphere absorbs them. Astronomers in China have managed to...
It is very difficult for astronomers to scan the terahertz frequencies between infrared and radio waves because water vapor in Earth’s atmosphere absorbs them. Astronomers in China have managed to make it work by putting a terahertz telescope in the driest place on Earth, but it wasn’t easy. The instrument, the Antarctic Terahertz Explorer, has a 60-centimeter dome and has been painstakingly hauled out to Dome A, the highest point on a plateau four kilometers above sea level on the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. The 1,228-kilometer trip from Zhongshan Station to Dome A took two weeks by tracked vehicle. The ATE60 is the first step of many, as the Chinese Academy of Sciences has agreed to fund at least two one-meter telescopes at Dome A.
I hate all science reporters.
"Astronomers in China have now shown it’s possible to peer through this veil, with a small terahertz telescope in the world’s driest spot..."
"In prioritizing terahertz telescopes, China “was trying to find a niche where no one else could compete,” says astronomer Michael Burton..."
--and so on, absolutely presenting this as a brand new thing that no one has ever tried before.
So I searched for more information about it, and I immediately discovered that U of Arizona and U of South Wales have had exactly this for over a decade, a 60cm terzhertz-band telescope all of a 150 km away from this new one, and yet somehow also located at "the highest, driest spot" on the East Antarctic Ice Sheet....
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Elevation_Antarctic_Terahertz_Telescope
http://soral.as.arizona.edu/heat/
https://spacenews.com/antarctic-heat-telescope-studies-the-stuff-between-the-stars/
Wow yeah. do you mind if I email the author of the article about this? I feel like this needs a correction, or at least get re-edited to mention HEAT
I don't mind, but I'm not optimistic about a correction. It's possible they just didn't do any background research, but the article reads like they actually knew about it, and carefully worded everything in the article to avoid mentioning the HEAT project, w/o explicitly saying anything untrue.
update, author replied:
It is very difficult for astronomers to scan the terahertz frequencies between infrared and radio waves because water vapor in Earth’s atmosphere absorbs them. Astronomers in China have managed to make it work by putting a terahertz telescope in the driest place on Earth, but it wasn’t easy. The instrument, the Antarctic Terahertz Explorer, has a 60-centimeter dome and has been painstakingly hauled out to Dome A, the highest point on a plateau four kilometers above sea level on the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. The 1,228-kilometer trip from Zhongshan Station to Dome A took two weeks by tracked vehicle. The ATE60 is the first step of many, as the Chinese Academy of Sciences has agreed to fund at least two one-meter telescopes at Dome A.