Franck Valbousquet of Optique et Vision in France proudly displays the very first 3600GTO, that he affectionately calls the BIG ONE, just before it was shipped off to Dome C in Antarctica. Franck consults to the Laboratoire Universitaire d'Astrophysique de Nice (LUAN) in Nice, France for projects in Antarctica. The RA and Dec axes and motor drive system were produced by Astro-Physics. The polar forks and base were designed and manufactured in France to suit the observing site. Note that the mount was not painted at the request of the research team.

Although the mount was essentially manufactured and assembled in the same manner as the production mounts that followed, Franck and the team at LUAN made special preparations for it to operate in the severe cold of the Antarctic. For instance, the original grease was removed. Anyone considering a similar application must be knowledgeable about requirements for extreme conditions.

Wood is used extensively as a building material due to the extreme cold conditions. Note the 1200GTO and 900GTO mounts on raised platforms in the background. The snow piles all the way up the support structure during the "winter" months.

April 11, 2017 Update
A second 3600GTO was installed at Concordia Station in 2010. After several years, it returned to France when it's original mission was complete. In late 2016, it was refurbished and returned to Concordia to begin new research. The following article was translated from the original French with Google Translator. The French text is below the translation.

Observation of ß Pictoris from Antarctica: The adventure begins!

With the arrival of the Antarctic night, the observations of the ß Pic star with the ASTEP telescope have just begun. It is to observe a system of a very young star and its giant planet, to try to discover moons or rings and beyond, to solve a mystery: The variation of brightness of the star observed in Was 1981 due to the passage of the planet in front of its star? For the first time, as part of an international collaboration, a telescope will point this famous star continuously, from March to September 2017. This is possible only because this automatic telescope is located in the middle of the Antarctic continent, and That it enjoys an almost continuous night during the austral winter. The first light curves of ß Peak are very promising.

The star ß Pic is famous: it is the first star for which it was possible to image a protoplanetary disk in 1984. It is also around this star that we deduced for the first time the presence of "exocomètes ". In 2008, a planet was discovered at about 8 astronomical units of its star (roughly the distance from Saturn to the Sun). The study of this planet, ß Pic b, and the dust disk around the star, is a unique source of information to understand these very young systems and the formation of planets. As in 1981, the planet will go back in front of its star between April 2017 and January 2018. This opportunity will not recur before 18 or 36 years. The detection of a transit (the planet passing exactly in front of the star) would be a revolution in the field because it would allow for the first time to have all the physical characteristics of an exoplanet that can be directly imaged. It would also allow to observe rings, a disc around the star and / or moons, which has never been done before! However, between April and September 2017, only telescopes in Antarctica are well placed to observe ß Peak.

Thanks to the support of the Paul Emile Victor Polar Institute (IPEV), the Côte d'Azur Observatory, the Côte d'Azur University and the Lagrange Laboratory (CNRS / OCA / Nice Sophia Antipolis University) An automated telescope capable of observing this star continuously from Concordia station in Antarctica. This station run by the Italian and French polar institutes is a permanent base: it is also inhabited during the winter, which allows the instruments to be monitored. ASTEP is an automated telescope 40cm in diameter. It is able to observe in the difficult conditions of the Antarctic: temperatures which have reached -65 ° C and which can go down to -80 ° C in the middle of the austral winter. This telescope, which was successfully operated from 2010 to 2014, was relocated to Concordia at the end of 2016, motivated by an international collaboration including the University of Grenoble and the University of Berkeley (USA). The first curves of light come to us. They are of excellent quality. Although we only have a few hours of observations, we can already see that ß Pic is actually a variable star. Its continuous monitoring will be rich in lessons. The adventure begin !