July, 2010....J.
Dana Hrubes...updated July 31, 2010 , 0073 GMT
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Aurora Australis over the Dark Sector Laboratory roof during a full moon
July is usually the coldest and clearest month. This year, however,
has been an exception. We have been hit by storm after storm
since the very beginning of July. The only photos taken this month were
in the first few days of the month and then during a one day window of low
wind conditions on July 28th. Both times were during the period when
the moon was up. The moon is above the horizon for two weeks out of
every four weeks. Walking the mile to and from the telescope was
sometimes a bit challenging when battling winds up to 48 mph (22 m/s)
while tripping over sastrugi and snow drifts with no moonlight. One drift is as high as
10 ft (3 m). We don't use a headlamp when walking out there
because it is actually safer to let your eyes adjust to whatever
ambient light exists rather than have the light from a lamp contract
your pupils and also reflect light from blowing ice crystals. aurora over DSL roof with full moon aurora over the Ice Cube Neutrino Laboratory and full moon (time exposures make these moonlit scenes appear brighter than they are)
However, South Pole Telescope (SPT) Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB)
observations were conducted as usual. During these storms, the 6 story
high telescope is above most of the blowing snow and is still able
have a clear view of the sky with minimal interference from water
vapor, which makes the South Pole about the best site in the world for
microwave
telescope observations. We have completed scanning several CMB fields
since station closing and will continue scanning until the Austral
Summer. We repeatedly scan our telescope over the same field until we
reach our desired signal to noise value, then move on to another field.
control room under the telescope control room under telescope docking sliding roof
aurora and SPT-1 aurora and SPT-2 aurora and SPT-3 aurora and SPT-4 SPT moonlight scorpio
South Pole
Telescope bathed in moonlight under aurora Australis and the stars of the constellation Scorpius
SPT aurora Scorpio-1 SPT aurora Scorpio-2 SPT moonlight
South Pole Telescope back-lit by aurora Australis and constellation Scorpius
Next Month - August: The Last Complete Month Without the Sun!
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
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