To really enjoy auroras, you want a nice dark sky. And in winter, the South Pole enjoys very dark skies (also great for stargazing). Last week, aurora-viewing conditions were favorable, and the Pole was treated to a variety of displays, including some with a mix of colors and others where big green auroras dominated. But […]
When cosmic rays crash into the Earth’s atmosphere, air showers containing atmospheric muons and neutrinos are produced. The atmospheric neutrinos are then detected by DeepCore, a denser array of sensors in the bottom center of the IceCube detector at the South Pole. Compared to the main IceCube detector, DeepCore is sensitive to neutrinos down to […]
It was a rather quiet week at the Pole. Not in the skies, though, where auroras continued to dance and the multitude of stars competed for attention. The bottom photo gives the stars a little bit more of the glory. Though many of us may have never witnessed a display of auroras, we’ve undoubtedly looked […]
Sometimes it feels almost as if the auroras are trying to say something, scrawling an unintelligible script across the sky. Last week at the Pole, IceCube’s winterovers were out at the IceCube Lab, checking on the IceACT unit up on the roof and capturing some nice images of the auroras and stars. They have been […]
Just as it’s getting dark, the moon appears and brightens things back up. Here, the IceCube Lab casts a shadow on the ice from the bright moonlight above. And the snowdrifts (seen last week) are still clearly in view with the help of the moon. It was a rather quiet week at the Pole, except […]
Last week, more than 200 participants took part in the spring IceCube Collaboration meeting in Uppsala, Sweden. This was the third time Uppsala University has hosted the IceCube Collaboration meeting. The official meeting kicked off with opening remarks from Uppsala University professor Carlos Pérez de los Heros, who was also a member of the local […]
The auroras keep coming. Last week at the Pole, IceCube winterover Ilya captured this image of the sky full of bright green auroras. IceCube winterover Joe was also taking aurora photos, but with his phone, as in the image below. The phone camera photo is supposedly closer to the impression given when seen with the […]
The results of the twelfth edition of the IceCube Impact Awards were announced during IceCube’s spring collaboration meeting dinner at the Uppsala Castle in Uppsala, Sweden. During the ceremony, IceCube spokesperson Erin O’Sullivan gave each recipient a certificate and mug to commemorate their achievements. The awardees are Christoph Günther (RWTH Aachen University); Sarah Mechbal (DESY); […]
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 […]
And then…the auroras start to get bigger and brighter. Unfortunately, the weather last week at the Pole was mostly bad, clearing up only at the end of the week. That was enough, though, for IceCube winterover Ilya to get outside and capture a few nice aurora photos. It often happens this way, with the first […]