It was sunrise last week at the Pole. But first, let’s take a look at that moon. IceCube winterover Martin was outside with his camera, and the image above shows how beautiful the sky looked opposite from the sunrise. The moon was full and low in the sky, while the horizon was blurred with hazy […]
Sunrise is a prolonged event at the South Pole. But even though it hasn’t “officially” arrived yet (it will be soon), they held their celebratory sunrise meal last week. The station galley staff put out an array of heavy hors d’oeuvres followed by a ribeye steak dinner (no photos, but we can use our imagination). […]
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory, a massive astroparticle physics experiment located at the South Pole, will be featured in two upcoming documentaries about neutrinos produced for the BBC and PBS NOVA. Sometimes called the world’s biggest and strangest telescope, IceCube comprises over 5,000 light sensors deployed in a cubic kilometer of ice at the South Pole. […]
It was a relatively quiet one last week at the Pole. IceCube’s winterovers performed a monthly calibration of IceTop DOMS and visited the IceCube Lab (ICL) to restart a crashed computer hub. While there, they also covered up the IceAct telescope situated on the ICL’s roof, pictured below in its frosty, post-winter state. IceAct operates […]
It’s now bright enough to see your way around outside at the Pole, which is great. Well, maybe, depending on your perspective. Sure, now you can leave your headlamps behind as you venture outdoors. But there’s a downside…the auroras are gone, and there are very few stars left visible in the sky. With the complete […]
2021 marks IceCube’s 10th year of full operation, which calls for celebration. And since you can’t have a celebration without a cake…we made one! Introducing IceCube’s 10th anniversary cake! The top tier is chocolate with nutella fudge and is decorated with a star- and aurora-filled night sky and the IceCube Laboratory. The bottom tier, which […]
Last week was a quiet one for IceCube, and the detector operated with a maximum possible weekly uptime of 99.95%. The brightening sky was beautiful as shown in the above image of the South Pole station. Station life was also reported to be quiet, but “quiet” doesn’t mean without any festivities. First up, they enjoyed […]
Last week, some of the winterovers walked out to the End of the World—that’s what they call the area that extends beyond the storage berms out on the ice—to take some photographs of the setting moon. It was bitterly cold, so they couldn’t use their cameras for long, but they did get in a few […]
Some weeks at the Pole are busier than others, and last week was one of the busy ones. IceCube winterovers made not one but two trips out to the IceCube Lab. The first trip was planned and entailed replacing a hard drive while also fitting in some inclinometer measurements while they were out there. The […]
It’s getting obviously lighter outside, but thanks to clear skies (and intrepid winterover-photographers), we are still being treated to some wonderful images of the stars and auroras over the South Pole landscape. Above is the ceremonial pole as the sun rises behind the flags. After taking this photo, winterover Martin turned around to photograph the […]