January, 2008....J. Dana Hrubes...updated January 31, 2008 , 1207 GMT
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dome-decommissioning photo 
Polies are lined up for a photo during the ceremony to decommission the geodesic
dome after over 30 years of service (I am in black standing 11th from the left on the top row)
(photo by forest banks)

January: a very busy month
January was an extremely busy month for me and South Pole Station. The entire South Pole Telescope (SPT) team has been working 15 hour days in an attempt to
finish the planned telescope upgrades as well as the installation and characterization of a new set of bolometer detectors into the receiver cryostat. Also, the other winterover for SPT, Keith, arrived at the Pole in January.  kathryn waving from the 10 meter primary mirror showing the scale of the telescope       brad - tom assembling receiver cryostat     don and I mounting on of the three pointing telescopes to the primary mirror     lifting the heavy pointing telescope into place     installing temperature sensors      working in one of the many small passageways inside the telescope     working inside telescope    steve inspecting the 1 meter secondary mirror inside the secondary cryostat        showing SPT to VIP's from Washington         

South Pole Telescope also had a webcast on January 18 with the San Francisco Exploratorium. The website is:    http://www.exploratorium.edu/poles/index.php      .... move your mouse over "archived media" and go to "Ice Stories: South Pole Telescope"

Also, on January 12th we decommissioned the geodesic dome, the second station at the South Pole and dedicated the new elevated station, the third United States research station at the South Pole which has been continuously occupied since 1957. The American flag on the dome was lowered and folded. We then formed a line and passed the flag to the geographic pole where there was another ceremony. The flag was then passed again to the new station where it was raised for the first time to dedicate the new South Pole Station.   flag on geodesic dome, the second South Pole Station, dedicated in 1975 (photos 1,2,3,8,9,10 by glenn grant)     lowering the dome flag for the last time     folding the flag on the dome     passing the flag from the dome to the geographic pole     Al passing the flag to me    passing the flag on     folding the flag at the geographic pole    Don Potter holding flag     Polies at the geographic pole   moving the ceremonial pole flags of members of the Antarctic Treaty     raising the flag to dedicate the new, and third, South Pole Station     flag absent from the now empty dome    I am standing in back of the sign that used to be above the entrance to the dome          

NEXT MONTH: February... the last aircraft for 8-1/2 months - winter isolation and telescope observations begin

A Real-Time Photo of South Pole Station as Seen from the ARO Building (live when satellite is up)
A Comprehensive South Pole Web Site by Bill Spindler
Winterover Web Pages (Bill Spindler's List)

MY SOUTH POLE 2007 HOME PAGE

MY BI-POLAR HOME PAGE