APOD: Postcard from the South Pole (2021 Dec 11)

[APOD Robot]

Postcard from the South Pole

Explanation: From this vantage point about three quarters of a mile from planet Earth's geographic South Pole, the December 4 eclipse of the Sun was seen as a partial eclipse. At maximum eclipse the New Moon blocked 90 percent of the solar disk. Of course, crews at the South Pole Telescope (left) and BICEP telescope (right) climbed to the roof of Amundsen-Scott station's Dark Sector Laboratory to watch. Centered near the local eclipse maximum, the composite timelapse view features an image of the Sun in cold antarctic skies taken every four minutes. Left to right along the roof line it also features the raised arms of Brandon Amat, Aman Chokshi, Cheng Zhang, James Bevington and Allen Forster.

<< Previous APOD

This Day in APOD

Next APOD >>

[RocketRon]

it also features the raised arms of Brandon Amat, Aman Chokshi, Cheng Zhang, James Bevington and Allen Forster.

All hail the Sun God !!
And pray for the Suns return....

Makes you realise how fragile our little world would be without that energy source.
How very fragile.

[wolfie138]

realy odd seeing the trail as a straight line rather than an arc.

[orin stepanek]

Really nice Photo!

[Chris Peterson]

realy odd seeing the trail as a straight line rather than an arc.

Eclipse images like this normally appear as straight lines in images. What's unusual is seeing the line parallel to the horizon.

[Sa Ji Tario]

As all cities are in tropical and subtropical areas, we cannot imagine the Sun traveling 360º above the horizon during the day in polar summers, where the stars move in a straight horizontal line over the panorama.

[Sa Ji Tario]

Has anyone ever imagined a polar night where half the stars are visible and ALL are circumpolar and ALL are ALWAYS at the same height above the horizon?

[neufer]

Has anyone ever imagined a polar night where half the stars are visible and
ALL are circumpolar and ALL are ALWAYS at the same height above the horizon?

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120802.html

[fritzstumpges@gmail.com]

The poles are strange anomalies; one day, one sunrise, and one night/sunset each year! It looks like this observatory is tilting, possibly with the icepack it's on?? The instruments are surely not equatorial!

[johnnydeep]

From the photographer's (Aman Chokshi) Instagram pic (who's also standing on the roof!):

I'd setup my camera out in the snow with an external power pack covered in hand warmers and hoped that the -40C conditions wouldn't freeze it!

In case anyone was wondering...