Week 12 at the Pole

Yellow sky at South Pole sunset, with Dark Sector building tops in dark shadow.
Ilya Bodo, IceCube/NSF

The sun is now below the horizon, but there’s still plenty of light. Most of us experience this period of twilight, where the sun transitions from day to night, over the course of an hour or so each day, but at the South Pole this change stretches over weeks and happens only once a year. Even so, pick a given day during twilight and the sky’s appearance can dramatically alter depending on which direction you’re facing or if the cloud cover shifts. Last week, IceCube’s winterovers shared some sunset photos, a few with mostly bluish skies and others with striking orange sunset displays.

Somewhat cloudy but blue sky at South Pole twilight, IceCube Lab to the right in foreground.
Ilya Bodo, IceCube/NSF
Streaks of horizontal cloudes against sunset sky of yellows and oranges.
Ilya Bodo, IceCube/NSF