MCMURDO STATION, ANTARCTICA-- When we arrived in late August the sun was up for just over 5 hours per day, and was barely peeking above the horizon, with pitch black nights. Today, the sun was up for nearly 15 hours, with the night sky not getting completely dark as the sun skims just below the southern horizon... {Read More »}

Ask an astronomer to describe the perfect place to put a telescope, and here’s what she’ll tell you: Make it cold, make it dark, make it high-altitude, and make it remote. In short, make it Antarctica. {Read More »}

There is at least some compensation for enduring the harsh climate at extreme northern and southern latitudes: the chance to see an aurora. Known as aurora borealis in the north and aurora australis in the south, auroras are natural light displays caused by electrically charged particles colliding with the atoms of gas that make up our atmosphere. {Read More »}