Week 22 at the Pole

The Milky Way along with some faint auroras in the South Pole sky, with a bright red light on the horizon.
Connor Duffy, IceCube/NSF

The moon from the previous week is long gone—with the darker skies, the stars and auroras get to take center stage. At the Pole last week, IceCube winterovers remained busy testing and verifying components of the new IceACT telescope. Connor also visited MAPO to help out the BICEP winterovers, and took the opportunity to photograph the Milky Way among some faint aurora displays. Temperatures have been consistently cold lately, below -80 F, making staying indoors even more appealing. Apart from IceCube work, both Connor and Kalvin have been busy with individual extracurricular activities in the evenings. The station came together last week for a trivia night, followed by a late night game of hide-and-seek (it’s apparently not just for kids).

Bright auroras in the sky as seen from the South Pole station’s observations deck.
Connor Duffy, IceCube/NSF