The yellow light cast on the ground makes the scene look almost like a sandy beach, with a shorefront edging into dark waters. But it’s just an illusion, we’re still at the Pole. That’s SPTR-2 above, one of the South Pole satellite domes; another satellite dome, GOES, is shown below. The South Pole presents special challenges for scientific data transmission, making these communications structures particularly important. It was a great week for other photos, too—with a bright moon, swirling auroras, flapping flags, and … vanishing winterovers.
