It was rather bright last week at the Pole, but it was all moon, no sun. They are still in nautical twilight there, so it will still be a while before the sun actually makes its appearance. Some folks at the Pole are surely ready for it. Even so, look at the auroras below—faint or […]
Twas the night before Christmas, well, Christmas in July, with cookies out for Santa, and a drift of white pillows piled high. Hey, who doesn’t like an extra reason to celebrate something? At the South Pole, they are experts at this, as they love their traditions and continue to add new ones to the list. […]
It was business as usual at the South Pole for IceCube’s winterovers last week. They had plenty to do maintaining the detector along with continuing Upgrade calibrations. It was a very cold week, too, with temperatures that reached levels they haven’t seen since 2018. The cold was accompanied by nice views of the night sky, […]
The object in the image below, propped up on a bench for maintenance, might not look like much. But that brass weight is a very important object for life at the South Pole. Without it, they wouldn’t have a source of drinking water. It contains heaters that melt ice in the Rodwell, a large reservoir […]
Action shot! In honor of the FIFA World Cup, IceCube winterovers Alicia and Camille ventured outside to play soccer—in the dark. Apparently the soccer balls weren’t too happy in the extreme cold, but the winterovers were treated to a nice starry sky while they played. The improved weather conditions allowed them to host the open […]
Bad weather has never looked so good. A bright moon and red exterior lighting coupled with very low visibility last week created a rather ethereal scene at the South Pole. But the downside was that the poor visibility forced IceCube’s winterovers to postpone an open house that had been planned at the IceCube Lab. Even […]
Midwinter has finally arrived at the Pole, and along with it the usual flurry of activity. This year, celebrations were given a medieval theme. Decorations and dress code followed suit for the traditional dinner. Before the meal, they had some fun with a festive disco bowling event in the gym. And check out their midwinter […]
IceCube’s winterovers had plenty of maintenance activities and detector calibrations, for both IceCube and the new IceCube Upgrade systems, to keep them busy last week. Station life also had its share of community activities, including a fun diversion working on a 3D puzzle of the Millennium Falcon. Looks like they’re almost done. They also had […]
The moon was out (nice and bright!), and a strong line of auroras crossed the lower sky, together creating a nice composition for a winter sky photo at the Pole. IceCube’s winterovers were busy last week with operations and calibration tasks, but had time to enjoy the outdoors as well as the fruits of their […]
The South Pole elevated station houses living quarters for its residents, which includes a large kitchen, dining and lounge areas, laboratory spaces…even a gym. (And a greenhouse!) But there are lots of other interesting spaces at the South Pole that are not elevated but rather underground. The fuel arch is one of them, located in […]