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...
- Log in to post comments
More like this
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.
As long as you don't run into The Old Ones or Shoggoths it's all good. :D
The black pit ... the carven rim ... the windowless solids with five dimensions ... the nameless cylinder ... the primal white jelly ... tekelili! Tekelili!
Now you can answer the age old question, which direction does the water draining from the sink swirl? (cw or ccw).
What a wonderful experience. Enjoy!
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.
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 :)
@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
Whaddya mean, no stars? It looks like they have about 8 suns!