Aurora

Auroras on the horizon, with the Milky Way above. (Photo: Kris Amundson)

We’ve had some very active skies the past week or so. The other day after fueling the science machine I walked out of the VMF and look up out of the bowl. The entire horizon was outlined in dancing green lights.

Something like this. (Photo: Kris Amundson) 

Auroras are caused by the collision of high-energy particles with atoms in the high atmosphere (thermosphere). The high-energy particles come from the solar wind and magnetosphere surrounding the Earth. The color of the aurora depends on what kind of atom is involved in the collision, and how much energy is involved, as well as where in the atmosphere the collision occurs. Green auroras, the most common color, like those above, are caused by collisions with oxygen. Collisions with oxygen can also cause pink and red aurora, if they occur higher in the atmosphere. You can see a little bit of pink in the picture above. Collisions with nitrogen can also cause red, yellow, or blue aurora.

Photo: Robert Schwarz

On station, we are getting ready for our Mid-Winter celebration next weekend. We’ve already gotten Mid-Winter greeting from 5 other stations, and will send out our greeting to them by mid-week. Plans for the weekend include a screening of “The Shining”, a fancy dinner and a dance party.

Mid-Winter greetings from the South Pole. I'm kneeling in the middle, with the Carhartt's on. (Photo: Jay Studer)

A couple of the maintenance guys put together a set of hockey sticks a couple of weeks ago, so that has become one of the Friday night activities on station. It's has been fun, and Carlos came in took some pictures this last week of our game.

Katie and I getting ready to fight for the ball

This weekend was also Grandma’s Marathon back in Minnesota, which I’ve done for the last three years, and had registered to do this year. So instead of running along the shore of Lake Superior, I did it on the treadmill, while watching “True Grit” and “Aliens”.

I squeaked in just under my goal at 4:29:02, which I feel pretty good about at this elevation, even if it was on a treadmill, and not on the road. Then I ate breakfast and went to bed.


Blog note: I added a couple of links on the left-hand side of the page. One goes to my Antarctica photo album, one to a sub-album with the photos from the current blog entry, and a link to one of the aurora cameras on top of the station.  There is also a link to a blog by Robert Schwarz, a grantee who is down here for his eighth season.  The other two links go to the Lockheed-Martin Antarctic Support site, and to the South Pole intranet (which is only accessible by the outside world when we have satellite coverage, but has some good info).