February, 2011....J.
Dana Hrubes...updated February 28, 2011, 1953 GMT
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Winterovers watching the last LC-130 aircraft depart, leaving the South Pole isolated for almost 9 months
The last LC-130 ski-equipped aircraft
lifted off from the nearly 10,000 ft high ice pack on February 15th leaving us 40+ Polies stranded in the most isolated place
on earth for nearly 9 months. It was fun seeing alot of old
friends I have met over the years during the short Austral summer, but
it was also nice to finally have the
station to ourselves for the upcoming long, dark, frigid
winter. Last of
the summer crew boarding the last LC-130 aircraft leaving South Pole
The
last aircraft for nearly 9 months waves its wings goodbye [photo:
Daniel Luong-Van,
SPT]
Once the station closed, we all have been participating in station
closing activities including removal of fuel lines, removal of 6 miles
of aircraft skiway flags, preparing our emergency extreme cold weather
caches, moving into our winter rooms and many other tasks that must be
completed before the sun sets for 6 months on March 21st. We also have
completed the installation of flaglines to all of our remote buildings,
including the Dark Sector Laboratory where South Pole Telescope is
located. preparing 200 flags for installation
Daniel and I have been operating South Pole Telescope 24 hours a day as
well as attending to other SPT tasks such as telescope maintenance,
troubleshooting and repair, some data quality analysis and some writing
of computer scripts. We also have bi-weekly telecons via satellite with
the SPT collaboration back in the States.
The
Dark Sector Laboratory nearly a mile from station with the BICEP II Telescope and the South Pole
Telescope (SPT)
A few NSF aerial shots: These were taken by Robert Schwarz who operates
another CMB telescope in the Martin A. Pomeranz Observatory (MAPO) in
the Dark Sector. Here is an aerial shot of the dark sector, with
SPT and BICEPII telescopes in the Dark Sector Laboratory (DSL) on the
far left almost a mile from the main station. MAPO is the building to
the right of DSL and the Ice Cube Neutrino Laboratory (ICL) is closer
and to the right of MAPO. The Atmospheric Research Observatory (ARO) is
in the clean air sector in the background and to the left of the
station aerial photo of the dark sector
In this aerial shot taken at a higher elevation, you can see the entire
station. ARO is to the far left, then the main station, then the dark
sector with MAPO, ICL and DSL to the
right. entire station
In the next aerial photo the entire staion is visible with the dark
sector on the left, then the aircrat skiway (November to February 13th
only), the main station to the right of the skieay, and ARO is the
building to the right of the main station. entire station and skiway
March: Sunset - the sun will be
gone for six months!
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
Web
Pages
(Bill Spindler's List)
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