With the first planes of the summer season soon to arrive, it’s full steam ahead for readying the station for new arrivals. Among the many preparations, the winterovers reinstalled flags along the skiway. The structures off in the distance are the radio and satellite communications facilities for the Pole. A sunny day provided good conditions […]
Last week, over 200 IceCube collaborators descended on Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Michigan, for the fall 2023 collaboration meeting. The meeting ran from October 18 through October 23 and was hosted by Michigan State University (MSU). Before the official start of the collaboration meeting, a number of pre-meetings were held on October […]
Oh, we thought they were done clearing snow. Guess not—look at all that accumulation still on the front deck of the IceCube Lab. A few hours later, though, and most of it is gone. Phew! The IceCube detector was quiet last week, but IceCube’s winterovers kept themselves busy. Besides shoveling snow, they replaced outdoor flags […]
IceCube collaborator and Harvard physics professor Carlos A. Argüelles-Delgado was named a 2023 Packard Fellow for Science and Engineering. Packard Fellowships are given to early-career scientists and engineers “who are boldly pursuing new areas of research.” As a Packard Fellow, Argüelles will receive $875,000 in unrestricted funds that can be used over five years in […]
Last week was another relatively quiet week at the South Pole. IceCube’s winterovers responded to a couple of pages for troubleshooting issues, did the monthly IceTop DOM calibration run, and finished up some tests and preparations for a workstation OS update scheduled for next week. Given a well-behaved detector, the winterovers spent some time outdoors. […]
Things were on the quiet side last week at the South Pole. The sun is up but still very low in the sky—check out the long shadow cast by the IceCube Lab (ICL), above. Below, instead, is a nice view of the ICL as it sunbathes in the early sunrise, with sastrugi now visible in […]
It was very cloudy for the official sunrise this year. In fact, it was cloudy most of last week at the Pole, as evidenced in the weather balloon photo below, where the white ground blends seamlessly into the white sky. The sun is clearly visible on the horizon in the photo above and the one […]
A cubic-kilometer array embedded in ice, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory detects cosmic messengers called neutrinos that can travel through space uninhibited. Of particular interest are high-energy astrophysical neutrinos, which can be traced back to their sources. IceCube issues real-time alerts to the public within minutes of the detection of a neutrino event with a high […]
It’s getting quite bright outdoors, clear enough to see the penguin in front of you—that is, if you happen to be holding a paper version in your hand (or are reading a special comic), as there are no such creatures otherwise found at the South Pole. Even though it’s still cold at the Pole, the […]
Even without the stars and auroras, the sky at the South Pole can still steal the show. As the sky brightens ever so slowly during sunrise, the horizon takes on a colorful glow. Above, we have the IceCube Lab (ICL) shown in shadow with a backdrop of orange light stretching along the horizon. Below is […]