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. […]
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. […]
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. […]
IceCube winterover Mack’s Ecuadorian devil’s mask looks extra devilish under the red lights as he stands for a photo in his cold weather gear after coming in from outside. […]
IceCube winterover Mack van Rossem stands, with a full moon and the IceCube Lab (ICL) in the background, all geared up and ready to tackle IceTop measurements. Nice mask! […]
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. […]
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. […]
A mushroom cloud … at the South Pole? What’s going on down there? What’s going on is actually a rising full moon getting distorted by the atmosphere. Pretty cool image. […]
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. […]
Last week there were a few alarm calls in the cryo building. The first one interrupted an outreach webcast, and then there was another one later the same day. The photo shows the emergency response team on their return from one of those calls. You can see that the sun is still out, just a few degrees above the horizon. […]