Week 20 at the Pole

Space: the final frontier. These are the images of IceCube winterover Mack van Rossem. Well, he’s not in space, and he may not exactly be “boldly going where no man has gone before,” but he is spending a year in one of the most remote locations on Earth—the South Pole. […]

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Week 19 at the Pole

Not a particularly busy or hectic week at the Pole—quiet punctuated by work, or work punctuated by quiet, depending on how you look at things. Now, depending on where, not how, you’re looking, you get to see where the action is this time of year at the South Pole. […]

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Week 18 at the Pole

Under a sky lit by auroras, you can see the path through the Dark Sector, bright enough to make out the flag line for quite a ways into the distance. It’s a different story when there are no auroras or bright moon to illuminate things. […]

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Week 17 at the Pole

It’s aurora season at the South Pole. Two lone figures—both of IceCube’s winterovers—were out on the ice capturing images of the night sky. Although it’s a night sky, that tells us nothing about what time of day it is since it’s winter there and the sun remains down for about six months at a stretch. […]

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Week 14 at the Pole

With the darkness of winter settling in, it’s time to cover the windows. It’s also time for winterizing outdoor equipment and vehicles. Although a large fleet of vehicles is needed for summer activity, most of them are left idle for the winter. […]

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Week 13 at the Pole

It was a relatively tranquil week at the Pole, but not without its interruptions—April Fool’s Day pranks among them. The waning light in the sky is beginning to lend a little eeriness to photos. […]

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Week 11 at the Pole

With so little time left above the horizon, the sun is making a nice spectacle of itself at the South Pole. Here we see it bright and orange and surrounded by a clear halo as it hovers above the satellite stations. […]

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