The Potential for Exoplanet Science with Infrared Interferometry at Dome C

Laboratoire d'Astrophysique, Observatoire de Grenoble, 414 rue de la Piscine, BP. 53, 38041 Grenoble Cedex 9, France

Abstract

The atmosphere above the Concordia station at Dome C Antarctica offers unique advantages to infrared interferometry. No other astronomical technique experiences comparable performance gains relative to other good sites. The dramatic improvement in infrared interferometry performance at the Dome C site enables a relatively modest instrument, based on three m class telescopes, to be capable of extensive unique discovery space science; such an instrument would be especially well-suited to the study of extrasolar planets. The conditions at Concordia are the closest Earth analog to those of space and potentially provide a stepping stone to proposed space interferometers, such as Darwin and TPFI, that will search for biomarkers on other habitable worlds – worlds that may well have been detected initially by an infrared interferometer operating at Dome C.