Week 16 at the Pole

Monday, May 4, 2020 - 11:15am

Bright green auroras outside the IceCube Lab
Yuya Makino, IceCube/NSF

Now that they’re here (they = auroras), we’ll likely see a lot of them.  Which is a good thing—no one ever seems to tire of seeing auroras.  Of course, the photos are fantastic, but the photographers get to actually gaze up and watch them as they unfold.  Lucky them.  And let’s not forget the stars and the Milky Way!

Below all that sky is Earth, and last week the South Pole winterovers also celebrated Earth Day.  First they cleaned up the greenhouse, harvesting basil along the way.  And then they viewed selected films as part of the Earth Day Film Festival.  With the South Pole joining in, the film festival reached all seven continents.

Green auroras that look like suns rays in starry skies
John Hardin, IceCube/NSF

Yellow-tinted photo of greenhouse interior
John Hardin, IceCube/NSF