NEWS

Pull up a chair—sunset at the South Pole takes weeks, not hours.  And why is that?  Because the Earth’s rotational axis is tilted, the poles gradually proceed from full exposure to full shadow (and back again) as the Earth travels around the sun.  The Earth’s tilt also gives us our seasons, and something less obvious—and maybe our new word of the day—the analemma.  Last week at the Pole, there was work as usual.  And the astronomy and ham radio classes continued.  But the sunset really took center stage.