Winter Summer Solstice!

Posted by ERV on December 21, 2010
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When I first found out I was going to Antarctica, I was super excited because I was a MAJOR ASTRONOMY NERD when I was little, and Ive never been to the Southern Hemisphere before, so I was like “OMFG THERE ARE SO MANY STARS IVE NEVER SEEN BEFORE WARBLEGARBLE!!!”

But there was something wrong.

There was something I was forgetting… tugging at my subconscious…

…

WINTER SOLSTICE! **SHAKES FIST ANGRILY AT THE SKY!!**

Except its the Southern Hemisphere, so, SUMMER SOLSTICE!! **SHAKES FIST ANGRILY AT THE SKY!!**

24 hours of sunlight means no stars! DAMMIT.

But, still, this is gonna be pretty damn cool. I dont have any pics of my own yet, but here is a neat one I stole from the internet:

Also, lulz for my parents– My bro has spent Summer Solstice around the Antarctic Circle. Im spending Summer Solstice around the Antarctic Circle. Heh.

Also… it better not be cloudy…

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Comments

  1. #1 titmouse
    December 21, 2010

    Will you get to see penguins? Will you go fishing? Do they have a greenhouse or some way to grow vegetables?

    Cross country skiing or snowshoeing?

    I don’t know much about Antarctica so I’m full of questions.

  2. #2 Zyzle
    December 21, 2010

    As long as you don’t run into The Old Ones or Shoggoths it’s all good. :D

  3. #3 Danforth
    December 21, 2010

    The black pit … the carven rim … the windowless solids with five dimensions … the nameless cylinder … the primal white jelly … tekelili! Tekelili!

  4. #4 Tom O'B
    December 21, 2010

    Now you can answer the age old question, which direction does the water draining from the sink swirl? (cw or ccw).

  5. #5 Scott Hatfield, OM
    December 21, 2010

    What a wonderful experience. Enjoy!

  6. #6 MadScientist
    December 24, 2010

    Congratulations! Well, if you want to see so many stars that you haven’t seen before just arrange to stop off in New Zealand or Australia for a week (or two). Once you’re a few miles out of almost any city (with a few exceptions) you’ll get an awesome view of the sky – including the Magellanic Clouds and a different looking Milky Way. Unfortunately I’ve moved back north (somewhere where those Minnesota winters are for wimps) so I can’t offer a room and car.

    If you’re sailing then you’ll have plenty nights to lie out on deck and stare at the stars. That’s something I certainly would not recommend when you’re in Antarctic temperatures. Something is just so wrong when you’ve got to have a small alcohol fire under your coffee cup just to keep your coffee tepid.

  7. #7 Alison
    December 24, 2010

    You’ll so love this!! When I went down I was so excited about seeing penguins; I just didn’t realize at the time that they aren’t all over the place. So while some of my colleagues work round the colonies & see penguins all the time, the only one I saw out at Granite Harbour was moribund.
    The food at Scott Base is great, BTW – fresh food comes in on the summer flights but they have hydroponics as well. Wonderful cooks (you take turns on kitchen duty to help out) &there were people coming across from Mactown for dinner cos it was so good.
    I’m so looking forward to hearing about your time down there &seeing your photos :)

  8. #8 MadScientist
    December 25, 2010

    @titmouse: skis – I can’t imagine why anyone would choose snow shoes.

    Greenhouse? Yes, there is (or I should say ‘are’ since there are many bases on Antarctica). You can have a look at the websites of the US Antarctic Program, Australian Antarctic Division, New Zealand Antarctic Division, and British Antarctic Survey to get a good idea of what’s there and how people run their bases. (There are quite a few other nations with bases there such as South Africa, but the 4 listed here should give you plenty to look at.)

    You can see the Amundsen-Scott (*THE* South Pole base) webcam here:
    http://www.usap.gov/videoclipsandmaps/spWebCamAlt.cfm

  9. #9 Uglyhip
    December 27, 2010

    Whaddya mean, no stars? It looks like they have about 8 suns!