Working from Dome A, the world’s driest location, researchers detected faint signals from distant star-forming regions. The results highlight Antarctica’s value for future Chinese space and astronomy research, and China’s Academy of Sciences has approved new funding.

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China established Kunlun Station at Dome A in 2009 after confirming the site’s uniquely dry and stable observing conditions. The Antarctic Terahertz Explorer (ATE60), a 60-centimetre dish led by researchers at Purple Mountain Observatory, has detected faint carbon emissions in distant stellar nurseries. The results were published on 7 January in Science Advances.