Lights of a different variety

Though there is still a nice glow on the horizon from the recently-departed star that drives this Solar System, other lights have appeared in the sky in the last several days. There are some of the brighter stars that are already visible, including those constituting the Southern Cross constellation, which is pretty much directly overhead. The moon also popped above the horizon all orange and upside down, for those of us used to its boreal appearance, and it is rapidly climbing higher into the sky.

Temperatures are currently, as I write, are at -96.5°F and slowly creeping down. It is supposed to warm back up, but if we hit the century mark before local noon today it will be the record earliest that temperature will be hit here at Pole. Of course, folks are all abuzz at the usual prospects of what hitting -100°F (early in the season) provides with regards to recreational opportunities.

I fired up my three auroral cameras this week, but it is still too bright for some of them to operate or one of them to resolve anything but a very bright sky. As the sun and full moon wane, they will eventually begin imaging operations.

In general, things are going pretty much like usual for a winter running science projects here. Some instruments run reliably, some have problems, all of them require documentation updates from the last time I did them two years ago, etc.

“Science is a match that man has just got alight.”
~H.G. Wells