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. The moon is reflecting a bright sun that officially set last week at the Pole, not to reappear for another six months. But what a gorgeous sunset it was. The image below shows a nice indoor view, where the sharp line of the horizon—bright orange sky contrasted with cold blue ground—extends through a row of windows in the galley.
Activities? The station held their traditional sunset dinner, which had not only duck but also lobster on the menu. Nice. It was also time to remove the flags from the ceremonial South Pole for the winter. One minute they were there, the next they were gone (almost). Finally, some shenanigans were apparently in order, as shown by winterover Christian posing as if to cut the cables and say good-bye to IceCube as they had just said good-bye to the sun.
