Week 32 at the Pole

Friday, August 23, 2019 - 2:00pm

Sunlight just barely on horizon at South Pole
Benjamin Eberhardt, IceCube/NSF

Sometimes the moon is so bright at the Pole that it lights up the dark winter skies.  The moon was setting last week, and as it left there was a slow transition to the first visible signs of sunlight along the horizon.  The week was a fairly quiet one, with the IceCube detector being well behaved.  The Antarctic winter film festival wrapped up, with the South Pole winning the “best editing” category and getting the second-most votes for best film.  IceCube winterover Benjamin’s time-lapse videos received some accolades for “best cinematography,” too.  Below is a nice shot of lingering auroras (in a moonlit sky) above the 2019 South Pole marker.

South Pole marker in foreground, auroras in sky above
Benjamin Eberhardt, IceCube/NSF