Week 17 at the Pole

Posted on by Jean DeMerit
Beautiful green and red auroras stretching upward from low on the horizon at the South Pole, with the South Pole Telescope barely lit in red in the foreground.
Ilya Bodo, IceCube/NSF

Ta-da! The skies were ablaze last week at the Pole. It was an otherwise rather quiet week for IceCube’s winterovers. But they made the most of their time outdoors. Besides the light in the skies (from auroras and from…stars!), a flood of red light illuminated the space outside the storage arches as heavy equipment worked to remove snow buildup after recent storms. The winterovers were found facing off with lightsabers again, this time as an actual May the 4th tribute, which the station celebrated with a marathon viewing of all nine main Star Wars movies plus Rogue One.

Heavy equipment removing snow from South Pole storage arches in darkness under red lights.
Joe Baines-Holmes, IceCube/NSF
Winterovers facing off with lightsabers, which form a bright X, in front of the IceCube Lab.
Ilya Bodo, IceCube/NSF
The IceCube Lab in a mostly dark but very starry skiea, showing the Milky Way and some faint low auroras.
Ilya Bodo, IceCube/NSF
Some not too bright green auroras filling the sky, with a satellite dome partially lit in view.
Joe Baines-Holmes, IceCube/NSF
A fisheye view of green swirling auroras from the South Pole station’s observation deck, with flag poles lit in red.
Ilya Bodo, IceCube/NSF