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Xuefei Gong from NIAOT will fly to Australia to meet Chinese 25th Antarctic Research Team in Oct.20, 2008。As the only one astronomical researcher in 25th Antarctic expedition, Xuefei Gong's main task is to maintain and update the astronomical instruments mounted in Dome A in last year, including the first chinese astronomical telescope for antarctic(CSTAR) and the internationally cooperated site testing instrument PLATO。Another task is to prepare the base for our next telescope AST3。Vibration test will also be done along the way in order to provide reference for the packing and transportation of the following instruments。
CSTAR was co-developed by NIAOT，Purple Mountain Observatories and National Astronomical Observatories, and the hardware of the telescope was developed by NIAOT in only about 10 months。CSTAR was mounted in Antarctic Dome A by the 24th expedition team and has continuously observed the south pole sky area for about 135 days successfully。
Many star images were recorded and transfered back in which a lot of variables were found。And from the datum of CSTAR, the site informations such as the continuous clear days, sky brightness, and cloud coverage were also retrieved。The international astronomers and high-level medias also paid close eyes on the work。
Xuefei Gong is one of the key members of the Antarctic Telescope Group in NIAOT who is healthy and well trained。
In order to fulfill the task, he attended the special high plateau training organized by the Chinese Arctic & Antarctic Administration。Xuefei Gong said he had well prepared for this task and would try his best to fulfill the task。
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