Week 25 at the Pole

Friday, June 30, 2017 - 9:45am

Milky Way over South Pole station
Martin Wolf, IceCube/NSF

Last week the IceCube detector had almost perfect uptime.  They survived a mid-week 90-second power outage with no interruption to data taking, but then a power supply failure right at the end of the week ruined the perfect performance.  The third round in the poker tournament, however, didn’t ruin winterover Martin’s standing—he’s still in the lead going into the finals.  It was Martin’s birthday last week, so the galley staff made a nice cake to celebrate. The aurora in the bottom image seems to be ushering in the upcoming 4th of July celebrations.

Round table of poker players
James Casey, IceCube/NSF

Martin giving the thumb's up to his birthday cake
James Casey, IceCube/NSF

Aurora that looks somewhat like fireworks exploding
James Casey, IceCube/NSF