May, 2011....J.
Dana Hrubes...updated May 31, 2011, 0245 GMT
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Aurora Australis resembling a picket fence being consumed by a vortex at the beginning of May
During
May we had exceptionally good weather and some very good aurora
Australis at the geographic South Pole. In addition, the temperature
dropped as low as -103.4 F (-75.2 C). aurora through the Milky Way aurora backlighting weather station aurora Australis over the dark sector red aurora
The moon was up for two weeks this month: South Pole Telescope (SPT) backlit by the full moon
The South Pole Telescope (SPT) lit by a full sky of glowing aurora Australis
Some bright aurora Australis: bright enough to illimunate the telescope mirror and ice surface huge aurora bright aurora over the dark sector laboratory corona aurora overhead bright aurora over the dark sector lab
Aurora Australis backlighting the SPT wind anemometer
More photos: aurora backlighting windbird red aurora over SPT
The two fuzzy spots in the sky are two of the closest galaxies to our Milky Way, the small and large Magellanic Clouds
Our Milky Way galaxy over South Pole Telescope: milky way over SPT milky way
A polar orbiting Iridium satellite reflects sun from one of its antennas to the polar plateau next to Sirius, the brightest star
[30 second exposure]
We dropped below -100 F for the first time this winter as shown on our local weather watcher
The South Pole Telescope has been operating well this past month as
we
are conducting wide area galaxy cluster surveys using the
Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect. In addition to conducting normal telescope
operations, data quality analysis and computer software upgrade work,
we do have typical troubleshooting and
repair issues such as when the calibration source failed a few weeks ago. When that
occurred, we had to stop observations, dock the telescope, open the huge
overhead door on the control room roof, open the receiver cabin door on
the telescope, climb up into the extremely cramped receiver cabin and onto the
cryostat and retrieve the calibrator in its tight space behind the
secondary mirror cryostat. climbing up into the cabin
Daniel and I then repaired the calibrator down in the
control room, replaced the unit and we were back observing the sky
within a couple of hours.
Numerous technical papers have been published
by the SPT team over the past couple of years on the discovery of
massive galaxy
clusters and the impact they have on the understanding of dark energy.
Other results include the discovery of other point sources such as
dusty
star-forming galaxies and refinements of the cosmic microwave
background (CMB) power spectrum at small angular scales. (click on
technical paper link below)
Next month - June: Midwinter
Solstice!
Recent
South Pole Telescope Technical Papers
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)
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