Week 14 at the Pole

Twilight view of the IceCube Lab, with the ground and sky merged in blue and the moon low in the sky to the left.
Alicia Fattorini, IceCube/NSF

Twilight at the South Pole is a long, drawn-out process that lasts weeks instead of hours. After the sun sets at the Pole, there’s still a period of prolonged dwindling light before everything gets immersed in complete darkness. Although it was still plenty light out last week, it wasn’t so bright as to make it hard to discern the moon. The moon was out and clearly visible, low in the sky, as seen in these two views of the IceCube Lab—rather different-looking views just from changing the viewing direction. Also last week, IceCube winterover Alicia captured an image of the first weather balloon launch for the winter. These regular balloon launches are conducted by NOAA to collect atmospheric data.

Twilight view of the IceCube Lab, with good visibility from remaining daylight and the moon low in the sky off to the right.
Alicia Fattorini, IceCube/NSF
View of the South Pole station at twilight, with some yellow light still lingering on the horizon.
Alicia Fattorini, IceCube/NSF
A weather balloon rising in a dark blue sky.
Alicia Fattorini, IceCube/NSF