September 14, 2012 - Stars, Scientists, and Southern Lights

Hi all - yesterday we launched another plane to do our science missions up in Terra Nova Bay.  I will write more on that in a different post, but I wanted to share some pictures that I took while I was up last night as the aircraft did an overnight flight.  Against (my) Paul's insistence that I bring a tripod down to Antarctica, I did not, but (Aerosonde) Paul lent me his, and he and John helped me set up my camera properly to get these photos.

I hope you enjoy them.  We are doing another set of flights tonight, and if the clouds clear up, maybe I'll have some more good pics.

Sunset over McMurdo Sound.

Ob Hill at night.

Stars.

Southern Lights!

Much of the time, the auroras were very faint and hard to see with the naked eye, but John and I caught the right time when it got really bright.  The one looked white to the naked eye.

More lights.

More auroras.

Just plain old stars.

Stars with the tip of Ob Hill at the bottom.