The First Release of the CSTAR Point Source Catalog from Dome A,
  Antarctica
  In 2008 January the 24th Chinese expedition team successfully deployed the
Chinese Small Telescope ARray (CSTAR) to DomeA, the highest point on the
Antarctic plateau. CSTAR consists of four 14.5cm optical telescopes, each with
a different filter (g, r, i and open) and has a 4.5degree x 4.5degree field of
view (FOV). It operates robotically as part of the Plateau Observatory, PLATO,
with each telescope taking an image every 30 seconds throughout the year
whenever it is dark. During 2008, CSTAR #1 performed almost flawlessly,
acquiring more than 0.3 million i-band images for a total integration time of
1728 hours during 158 days of observations. For each image taken under good sky
conditions, more than 10,000 sources down to 16 mag could be detected. We
performed aperture photometry on all the sources in the field to create the
catalog described herein. Since CSTAR has a fixed pointing centered on the
South Celestial Pole (Dec =-90 degree), all the sources within the FOV of CSTAR
were monitored continuously for several months. The photometric catalog can be
used for studying any variability in these sources, and for the discovery of
transient sources such as supernovae, gamma-ray bursts and minor planets.
