June,
2008....J.
Dana Hrubes...updated June 30, 2008 , 2300 GMT
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Aurora Australis over the Geographic South Pole, 90o South Latitude
June is the month when we celebrate the midwinter solstice. It means
that we have lived through 3 months without the sun and there are 3
months until sunrise on September 21st. As for me, I get sad when the
sun starts to rise because it means that the magic of walking miles
each day to work and back under the beautiful skies of the South Pole
will be over. But for now, we still have plenty of darkness left
and the two coldest months are just beginning, July and August. I hope
to beat my record low of -110.7 F (almost -80 C) which was in early
August, 2005. I personally would like to experience -118 F and break
the all time record since records at the Pole began in 1957. That also
happens to be the temperature that carbon dioxide freezes at this
altitude
(over 10,000 ft equivalent). By the way, these are actual static
temperatures, not any of that wind chill nonsense. Even at temperatures
below -100 F, we still hike out to the telescope every day. I haven't
missed one day at South Pole Telescope since I got here on December 8,
2007.
The red streak from my headlamp, during this time exposure, while working on the telescope as it was docked
(photo by K. Vanderlinde)
Some photos working on the telescope
working on the docked telescope at -92 F with my red headlamp showing the scale of the immense 10 meter(33ft) dish (photo by Vanderlinde)
standing outside of the dark sector lab (DSL) in front of SPT in the flash photo
standing outside of the dark sector lab (DSL) in front of SPT in the moonlight
red floodlight on at DSL in preparation for a cryogenics delivery of liquid helium for the BICEP telescope
in the DSL getting ready to climb up on the telescope for maintenance work
The frequency of auroral activity has been very low during this year of
the solar minimum. Despite that fact, we have experienced some very
nice light shows.
Aurora Australis over the dark sector and the Ice Cube Neutrino Laboratory
aurora over the dark sector lab and the BICEP CMB telescope another aurora over the dark sector lab and the BICEP CMB telescope
aurora over South Pole Telescope - 1 aurora over South Pole Telescope - 2 aurora and jupiter(to right of) BICEP telescope
aurora and the milky way (photo by Vanderlinde) dark with only stars at SPT and DSL (photo by Vanderlinde)
South Pole Telescope backlit by aurora moon rising behind SPT moon rising behind the station
Aurora Australis over the new South Pole Station
The stars have been fantastic this year, We have had more clear skies than other years.
Our galaxy, the Milky Way, extends upward from South Pole Telescope (photo by K. Vanderlinde)
Midwinter Celebration Concert
July: Cold and Dark!
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 2007-08 HOME PAGE
MY BI-POLAR HOME PAGE
