May, 2008....J. Dana Hrubes...updated May 31, 2008 , 1300 GMT
(CLICK ON UNDERLINED LINKS FOR PHOTOS....CLICK "BACK" ON YOUR BROWSER TO RETURN TO THIS PAGE) Click for Amundsen-Scott, Antarctica Forecast

SPT-BICEP_DSL
South Pole Telescope (SPT), the BICEP telescope and the Dark Sector Lab (DSL) back lit by aurora Australis   


May is the month when you finally start feeling settled into the job routine of the long winter. I have now worked 7 days a week for 6 straight months in the dark sector at SPT, not to mention the work at days-end in my room(emails, reports and monitoring the telescope from my Linux box on my desk). Then I am also usually up several times during my sleep to either check on or fix a problem with the telescope from my room. Sometimes the problem is big enough so we may have to get back out to the dark sector right away.  Two weeks out of each month the moon is up and for two weeks it is down.   walking the mile to work at SPT backlit by the full moon       south pole telescope under a hazy moon         the telescope docked for maintenance backlit by the full moon      on the control room roof ready to climb the telescope to work on it at -92 degrees F        on DSL second deck in front of the telescope at -88 degrees F              on DSL deck - flash photo             purging and filling the helium compressor          long duration exposure at DSL looking back at the station a mile away            long duration exposure of the main station in moonlight        

We had a few nice auroras this month. However, this is by far the worst year I have seen for auroras, but this is to be expected since we are at a solar minimum of the 11 year solar sunspot cycle. The telescope appears blurry because it is scanning during these 20 to 30 second exposures.   SPT backlit by aurora    aurora at SPT-1   aurora at SPT-2    aurora at SPT-3    aurora at SPT-4     aurora at SPT-5     aurora at SPT-6     
barry's iridium pole photo
An iridium satellite flaring as it reflects sunlight down to the geographic south pole (photo by Barry Horbal)

We also had at least two 3-4 day periods when Iridium flares were visible every 9 minutes and 8 seconds. See my website for May, 2005. Here are a few photos of Iridium flares during the month of May.  The stars appear as small streaks because of the Earth's rotation during these 30 second exposures.   iridium flare over DSL      double iridium flare: sun reflects off antenna then solar panel    iridium flare close-up    

Here is a photo of our two closest galaxies, the Magellanic clouds. They are the two fuzzy spots in the photo.   Magellanic clouds  

Here is the low temperature for the month, -92 F. We should breaking into the -100's F (-70's C) by next month.    weather watcher    
walking the mile to work
Walking the mile from the station to work at the South Pole Telescope at -92 degrees F under the full moon
(the station is not visible, but is at the end of the flagline directly under the moon)

The telescope continues to deliver fantastic data, although operation, maintenance, and troubleshooting of issues always keeps us busy. 



June: Midwinter Solstice!

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