Today's Image

Hello, sunrise!

Posted by
Deborah Byrd
and
August 14, 2020
Sunrise over a frozen landscape, with 2 silhouetted researchers in Arctic garb looking on reverently.
The European Space Agency (ESA) released this image this week. Captured on August 11, 2020, it celebrates the sunrise at Concordia Research Station in Antarctica, after 4 months of darkness. On the left is medical doctor Stijn Thoolen. On the right is engineer Wenceslas Marie-Sainte. They are part of the 12-member crew spending an entire year at Concordia. Image via ESA.

Concordia Research Station is a French-Italian facility, open since 2005, at a location called Dome C on the Antarctic Plateau. It’s 10,607 feet (3,233 meters) above sea level and about 1,000 miles (1,600 km) from the geographic south pole (where the U.S. Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station has been permanently staffed since 1956). The researchers at Concordia were understandably excited this week when the sun rose there this week for the first time in four months, ending the winter darkness.

Read more about this photo from ESA

Winter darkness still reigns over much of the Antarctic continent, by the way. At the geographic south pole, the sun won’t rise again until around the September equinox.

A map of Antarctica, with Dome C's location marked by a red dot.
Location of Dome C in Antarctica, site of Concordia Research Station, via Wikimedia Commons.

Bottom line: Photo from ESA of the first sunrise in four months at Concordia Research Station in Antarctica.

Via ESA

Posted 
August 14, 2020
 in 
Today's Image

Deborah Byrd

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About the Author:
Deborah Byrd (asteroid 3505 Byrd) helps edit EarthSky.org and is a frequent host of EarthSky videos. Deborah created the EarthSky radio series in 1991 and founded EarthSky.org in 1994. Prior to that, she had worked for the University of Texas McDonald Observatory since 1976, and created and produced their Star Date radio series. She has won a galaxy of awards from the broadcasting and science communities, including having an asteroid named in her honor in 1990, a Public Service Award from the National Science Board in 2003, and the Education Prize from the American Astronomical Society in 2020. A science communicator and educator since 1976, Byrd believes in science as a force for good in the world and a vital tool for the 21st century. "Being an EarthSky editor is like hosting a big global party for cool nature-lovers," she says.

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