New York (PTI): It's a monumental achievement for ground-based astronomy -- scientists have established a fully robotic observatory in Antarctica.

An expedition team, representing six international institutions and led by the Polar Research Institute of China, has set up the observatory dubbed PLATeau Observatory or PLATO at Dome Argus on the highest point of the Antarctic Plateau.

"This permanent facility marks the culmination of centuries of effort to find the best location on the planet from which to observe the universe.

"It is possible to achieve near-space quality images at a much lower cost than launching a telescope into space," according to Texas A&M University astrophysicist Dr Lifan Wang, one of the leaders of the scientific planning phase of the expedition.

Built by the University of New South Wales in Sydney, PLATO is designed to operate autonomously for up to 12 months at a time while sending back data via the Iridium satellite network.

Powered by an array of solar panels during summer and small, high-efficiency diesel engines through the darkest winter months, it will be efficient as well as environmentally friendly, according to its developers.

"By minimising the need for human support, robotic facilities such as PLATO will play an important role in the future of Antarctic research," the 'ScienceDaily' quoted Dr Jon Lawrence, who led PLATO's development as saying.

PLATO's site-testing instruments include cameras that will measure the darkness of the sky, an acoustic radar to measure atmospheric turbulence and a monitor for very short microwave astronomy.

Seven telescopes -- four from China, two from Caltech and one from the University of Arizona and the University of Exeter that is partially funded by the National Science Foundation -- will take unique images of the heavens towards the South Pole.

The telescopes can view a large field of the sky towards the South Pole area. The system will generate continuous movies of the sky lasting for four months. "This is a scientific study that can only be done in Antarctica. We will be able to study the variability of the stars and search for planets around those far-away stars," Wang said.