South Pole Sunset Brings Six Months of Darkness
While the 2010 spring season has sprung in the Northern Hemisphere, winter has begun in Antarctica. The last edge of the sun dipped below the horizon at the South Pole, 90 degrees South latitude, at 2:01 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on March 22 (9:01 a.m. on March 23 South Pole/New Zealand time). Six months of darkness await a crew of 47 at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole station during the 2010 winter season.
Astronomy, cosmology, meteorology and air quality research will continue throughout the dark winter. Well-geared scientists and support staff will experience temperatures nearly 100 below zero Fahrenheit and wind chills of nearly 150 below whenever they step outside of the station.
The South Pole experiences only one sunset (around March 21) and one sunrise (around September 23) per year. The actual sunset and sunrise each take over 24 hours. During the height of Southern Hemisphere summer, as the Earth rotates, the sun circles 360 degrees around the sky 23 1/2 degrees above the horizon. During the final days before sunset, the same happens at an angle of less than one degree.
View live webcams from Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station and McMurdo Station, courtesy of the United States Antarctic Program.
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Days before sunrise at the South Pole, September 8, 2009. Photo by Jeremy Johnson, National Science Foundation. |
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Aurora Australis (Southern Lights) over South Pole Station, April 2009. Photo by Patrick Cullis, National Science Foundation. |
