Lingzhi Wang

The PLATO Dome A Site-Testing Observatory : instrumentation and first results

The PLATeau Observatory (PLATO) is an automated self-powered astrophysical observatory that was deployed to Dome A, the highest point on the Antarctic plateau, in 2008 January. PLATO consists of a suite of site-testing instruments designed to quantify the benefits of the Dome A site for astronomy, and science instruments designed to take advantage of the unique observing conditions. Instruments include CSTAR, an array of optical telescopes for transient astronomy; Gattini, an instrument to measure the optical sky brightness and cloud cover statistics; DASLE, an experiment to measure the statistics of the meteorological conditions within the near-surface layer; Pre-HEAT, a submillimeter tipping radiometer measuring the atmospheric transmission and water vapor content and performing spectral line imaging of the Galactic plane; and Snodar, an acoustic radar designed to measure turbulence within the near-surface layer. PLATO has run completely unattended and collected data throughout the winter 2008 season. Here we present a detailed description of the PLATO instrument suite and preliminary results obtained from the first season of operation.

PHOTOMETRY OF VARIABLE STARS FROM DOME A, ANTARCTICA

Dome A on the Antarctic plateau is likely one of the best observing sites on Earth thanks to the excellent atmospheric conditions present at the site during the long polar winter night. We present high-cadence time-series aperture photometry of 10,000 stars with i < 14.5 mag located in a 23 deg(2) region centered on the south celestial pole. The photometry was obtained with one of the CSTAR telescopes during 128 days of the 2008 Antarctic winter. We used this photometric data set to derive site statistics for Dome A and to search for variable stars. Thanks to the nearly uninterrupted synoptic coverage, we found six times as many variables as previous surveys with similar magnitude limits. We detected 157 variable stars, of which 55% were unclassified, 27% were likely binaries, and 17% were likely pulsating stars. The latter category includes delta Scuti, gamma Doradus, and RR Lyrae variables. One variable may be a transiting exoplanet.

OPTICAL FLARES AND A LONG-LIVED DARK SPOT ON A COOL SHALLOW CONTACT BINARY

W UMa-type stars are contact systems where both cool components fill the critical Roche lobes and share a common convective envelope. Long and unbroken time-series photometry is expected to play an important role in their origin and activity. The newly discovered short-period W UMa-type star, CSTAR 038663, was monitored continuously by Chinese Small Telescope ARray (CSTAR) in Antarctica during the winters of 2008 and 2010. There were 15 optical flares recorded in the i band during the winter of 2010. This was the first time such flares were detected from a W UMa-type star. By analyzing the nearly unbroken photometric data from 2008, it is discovered that CSTAR 038663 is a W-type shallow contact binary system (f = 10.6(+/- 2.9)%) with a high mass ratio of q = 1.12(+/- 0.01), where the less massive component is slightly hotter than the more massive one. The asymmetric light curves are explained by the presence of a dark spot on the more massive component. Its temperature is about 800 K lower than the stellar photosphere and it covers 2.1% of the total photospheric surface. The lifetime of the dark spot is longer than 116 days. Using 725 eclipse times, we found that the observed-calculated (O-C) curve may show a cyclic variation that is explained by the presence of a close-in third body. Both the shallow contact configuration and the extremely high mass ratio suggest that CSTAR 038663 is presently evolving into a contact system with little mass transfer. The formation and evolution is driven by the loss of angular momentum via magnetic braking, and the close-in companion star is expected to play an important role, removing angular momentum from the central eclipsing binary.

Photometry of Variable Stars from Dome A, Antarctica: Results from the 2010 Observing Season

We present results from a season of observations with the Chinese Small Telescope ARray, obtained over 183 days of the 2010 Antarctic winter. We carried out high-cadence time-series aperture photometry of 9125 stars with i less than or similar to 15.3 mag located in a 23 deg(2) region centered on the south celestial pole. We identified 188 variable stars, including 67 new objects relative to our 2008 observations, thanks to broader synoptic coverage, a deeper magnitude limit, and a larger field of view. We used the photometric data set to derive site statistics from Dome A. Based on two years of observations, we find that extinction due to clouds at this site is less than 0.1 and 0.4 mag during 45% and 75% of the dark time, respectively.

Optical Observations of the Rapidly Expanding Type Ia Supernova 2007gi

We present optical photometry and spectra for the Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) 2007gi in the nearby galaxy NGC 4036. SN 2007gi is characterized by extremely high-velocity (HV) features of the intermediate-mass elements (Si, Ca, and S), with expansion velocities (vexp) approaching ∼15;500 kms � 1 near-maximum brightness (compared to ∼10;600 kms � 1 for SNe Ia with normal vexp). SN 2007gi reached a B-band peak magnitude of 13:25 � 0:04 mag with a decline rate of Δm15ðBÞðtrue Þ¼ 1:33 � 0:09 mag. The B-band light curve of SN 2007gi demonstrated an interesting two-stage evolution during the nebular phase, with a decay rate of 1:16 � 0:05 mag ð100 daysÞ � 1 during t ¼ 60-90 days and 1:61 � 0:04 mag ð100 daysÞ � 1 thereafter. Such behavior was also ob- served in the HV SN Ia 2006X, and might be caused by the interaction between supernova ejecta and circumstellar material (CSM) around HV SNe Ia. Based on a sample of a dozen well-observed R band (or unfiltered) light curves of SNe Ia, we confirm that the HV events may have a faster rise time to maximum than those with normal vexp.

Photometric Variability in the CSTAR Field: Results from the 2008 Data Set

The Chinese Small Telescope Array (CSTAR) is the first telescope facility built at Dome A, Antarctica. During the 2008 observing season, the installation provided long-baseline and high-cadence photometric observations in the i-band for 18,145 targets within 20 deg(2) CSTAR field around the South Celestial Pole for the purpose of monitoring the astronomical observing quality of Dome A and detecting various types of photometric variability. Using sensitive and robust detection methods, we discover 274 potential variables from this data set, 83 of which are new discoveries. We characterize most of them, providing the periods, amplitudes, and classes of variability. The catalog of all these variables is presented along with the discussion of their statistical properties.

Discovery of multiple pulsations in the new δ Scuti star HD 92277: Asteroseismology from Dome A, Antarctica

We report the discovery of low-amplitude oscillations in the star HD 92277 from long, continuous observations in the r and g bands using the CSTAR telescopes in Antarctica. A total of more than 1950 hours of high-quality light curves were used to categorize HD 92277 as a new member of the delta Scuti class. We have detected 21 (20 frequencies are independent and one is the linear combination) and 14 (13 frequencies are independent and one is the linear combination) pulsation frequencies in the r and g bands, respectively, indicating a multi-periodic pulsation behavior. The primary frequency f(1) = 10.810 days(-1) corresponds to a period of 0.0925 days and is an l = 1 mode. We estimate a B - V index of 0.39 and derive an effective temperature of 6800 K for HD 92277. We conclude that long, continuous and uninterrupted time-series photometry can be performed from Dome A, Antarctica, and that this is especially valuable for asteroseismology where multi-color observations (often not available from space-based telescopes) assist with mode identification.

PLATO–a robotic observatory for the Antarctic plateau

PLATO is a fully-robotic observatory designed for operation inn Antarctica. It generates its own electricity (about 1 kW), heatn (sufficient to keep two 10-foot shipping containers comfortably aboven 0°C when the outside temperature is at -70°C), andn connects to the internet using the Iridium satellite system (providingn ~30 MB/day of data transfer). Following a successful first year ofn operation at Domexa0A during 2008, PLATO was upgraded withn new instruments for 2009.

PHOTOMETRY OF VARIABLE STARS FROM THE THU-NAOC TRANSIENT SURVEY. I. THE FIRST TWO YEARS

In this paper, we report the detections of stellar variabilities from the first two years of observations of a sky area of about 1300 square degrees from the Tsinghua University-NAOC Transient Survey. A total of 1237 variable stars (including 299 new ones) were detected with a brightness <18.0 mag and a magnitude variation greater than or similar to 0.1 mag on a timescale from a few hours to a few hundred days. Among such detections, we tentatively identified 661 RR Lyrae stars, 431 binaries, 72 semi-regular pulsators, 29 Mira stars, 11 slow irregular variables, 11 RS Canum Venaticorum stars, 7 Gamma Doradus stars, 5 long-period variables, 3 W Virginis stars, 3 Delta Scuti stars, 2 Anomalous Cepheids, 1 Cepheid, and 1 nova-like star based on their time-series variability index Js and their phased diagrams. Moreover, we found that 14 RR Lyrae stars show the Blazhko effect and 67 contact eclipsing binaries exhibit the OConnell effect. Since the period and amplitude of light variations of RR Lyrae variables depend on their chemical compositions, their photometric observations can be used to investigate the distribution of metallicity along the direction perpendicular to the Galactic disk. We find that the metallicity of RR Lyrae stars shows large scatter at regions closer to the Galactic plane (e.g., -3.0 < [Fe/H] < 0) but tends to converge at [Fe/H] similar to -1.7 at larger Galactic latitudes. This variation may be related to the fact that the RRAB Lyrae stars in the Galactic halo come from globular clusters with different metallicities and vertical distances, i.e., OoI and OoII populations, favoring the dual-halo model.

Variable Stars Observed in the Galactic Disk by AST3-1 from Dome A, Antarctica

AST3-1 is the second-generation wide-field optical photometric telescope dedicated to time-domain astronomy at Dome A, Antarctica. Here, we present the results of an i-band images survey from AST3-1 toward one Galactic disk field. Based on time-series photometry of 92,583 stars, 560 variable stars were detected with i magnitude <= 16.5 mag during eight days of observations; 339 of these are previously unknown variables. We tentatively classify the 560 variables as 285 eclipsing binaries ( EW, EB, and EA), 27 pulsating variable stars (delta Scuti, gamma Doradus, delta Cephei variable, and RR Lyrae stars), and 248 other types of variables ( unclassified periodic, multiperiodic, and aperiodic variable stars). Of the eclipsing binaries, 34 show OConnell effects. One of the aperiodic variables shows a plateau light curve and another variable shows a secondary maximum after peak brightness. We also detected a complex binary system with an RS CVn-like light-curve morphology; this object is being followed-up spectroscopically using the Gemini South telescope.