SN 1987A has been observed with a combined high energy γ-ray (50-500 MeV) and hard X-ray (15-150 keV) payload during a balloon flight on 5 April 1988 from Alice Springs, Australia. The γ-ray observations, along with our earlier ones on 19 April 1987 are the only such observations of the supernova to date. The γ-ray detector characteristics are described. The preliminary results of the recent flight and their implications in terms of the known supernova parameters are discussed.

It is now evident that the exceptional seeing at Dome C willallow, in the next years, to pursue astronomical programs withconditions better than at any other observatory in the world, andvery close to space experiments.Considering a new type of wide-field telescope, particularastronomical programs could be well optimized for observations atDome C such as surveys for the discovery and follow up ofnear-Earth asteroids, search for extra-solar planets using transitor micro-lensing events, and stellar luminosity variations.We propose to build a 1.5–2 m class three-reflections telescope, with1–1.5 degree FOV, four times shorter than an equivalent Schmidttelescope, and providing a flat field without requiring atriplet- or quadruplet-lens corrector since its design isanastigmatic.We present the preliminary optical tests of such designs:MINITRUST 1 and 2 are two 45 cm identical prototypes based inFrance and Italy, and manufactured using active optics techniques.