The Big Picture (the Boston Globe’s feature displaying gorgeous super-hi-res pictures) is running a page full of shots of Antarctica. I give the author much credit for including several pics of astronomical observatories and aurorae; a lot of science goes on in the extreme south.
But this one jumped out at me; one of my favorite aspects of Antarctica is the deep, rich colors superposed on stark, white, but richly textured backgrounds:
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That’s incredible. Go to The Big Picture right now and look at them all, and add it to your feed reader.
I’ve always wanted to go to Antarctica, even after watching "The Thing". I hope someday to go, and see this last place on Earth.
November 12th, 2008 at 8:36 am
Wow… the last one in the series, called Polar Plateau, is amazingly beautiful. Simply amazing… I wanna go to the south pole, mommy!
November 12th, 2008 at 8:37 am
Dr. Plait, I think that the Big Picture is supplanting Bad Astronomy Blog as one of my favorite sites. No insult intended, but I can’t help it.
Your site still has my favorite words on it though, so I guess you still have a special place in my web surfing.
November 12th, 2008 at 8:40 am
Pfft. Antarctica is so passe. Kidding.
Seriously the best vacation I ever went on was to Antarctica. Click my name for pictures.
You really never get sick of seeing icebergs. The “blue” ice is incredible. The picture above is exactly how it appears. We picked up some ice from an iceberg that had just calved and rolled over in front of us and put it in our drinks that evening. 10000+ year old ice apparently.
November 12th, 2008 at 8:56 am
The whole area at the bottom of the Atlantic is fantastic…visited parts of the area, back in the early eighties. Read up on Sir Earnest Shackleton, the all time greatest explorer who survived a ship wreck in Antarctica and led all of his men to safety.
November 12th, 2008 at 9:04 am
Lovely pictures. I really liked the one of the clouds. A rare sight for many of us.
November 12th, 2008 at 9:08 am
Incredible! Oh, to see it in person. It is one of my life goals.
November 12th, 2008 at 9:08 am
Antarctica, the greatest remaining source of fresh water on earth,,,now, where’s my ice pick?
I recall a Saudi Prince that tried to tow an iceberg from the Antarctic to Saudi Arabia,,,unfortunately, it melted on the way.
Guess he would have been better off mining the ice and loading it into a super tanker.
GAry 7
November 12th, 2008 at 9:12 am
When I saw the title, I thought there would be a picture like this:
Antarctica 2108
http://www.squidzone.ca/UT/0057.jpg
I agree about the colours of glacial ice. Really, photos do it little justice. You really have to see it to appreciate it. I’ve never been to Antarctica (although I want to go there), but I’ve seen the glaciers of Alaska and British Columbia, and the icebergs of Newfoundland. Truly awesome sights.
November 12th, 2008 at 9:15 am
Gary,
A similar plan was the plot of a sci-fi book called “Texas on the Rocks” by Daniel da Cruz. Basically, Texas declares independence and they tow an iceberg down from the Arctic. Not the best book in the world (rather bad, actually) but an interesting premise.
Could be done if you started with a big enough berg.
November 12th, 2008 at 9:20 am
Dick Smith towed an iceberg from Antarctica into Sydney Harbour in 1978.
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/aprilfool/comments/872/
November 12th, 2008 at 9:25 am
I really have to get down there. I keep looking at those Lindblad Expeditions cruises.
How about s0me sort of Bad Astronomy Antarctica expedition some day? Maybe we could get a sponser and film a documentary. Anyone got an IMAX camera?
We picked up some ice from an iceberg that had just calved and rolled over in front of us and put it in our drinks that evening. 10000+ year old ice apparently.
Oh, geez! And now you have some ancient evil hive organism coursing through your veins, plotting global terror and domination, and preparing a Calabi-Yau distortion gateway to grant primeval monstrosities access to the Earth!
Did you people learn nothing from The X-Files?!? H. P. Lovecraft was a prophet. A PROPHET, I tell you!
November 12th, 2008 at 9:36 am
If the pictures were only bigger I’d be sorted for desktop wallpaper for a good long time.
We should start a campaign: Better cameras for the Antarctic Survey! Who’s with me?
November 12th, 2008 at 9:38 am
Hey Unspeakably Violent Jack,
I’ll second that.
But I’ve centered mine, on a black background and I think it still looks pretty good.
rod
November 12th, 2008 at 9:39 am
I did have some ancient evil hive organism coursing through my veins. The doctor tried to tell me it was sea sickness but I knew better… no one man can throw up so much without being truly possessed.
Actually, I even burst all the blood vessels in and around my eyes I threw up so bad.
Similar to this (gross photo of my bloody eyes after a diving mishap… do NOT look if you are at all grossed out by yucky shots. You have been warned)…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/15584423@N02/3025388132/
My eyes were worse from the sea sickness throwing up.
November 12th, 2008 at 9:46 am
QD, I shot a lot of video down there. Unfortunately not IMAX though. I really do have to get around to editing it though. I can then sell you the DVD and save you the trip.
November 12th, 2008 at 9:52 am
I think it was eccentric millionaire Montgomery Brewster who funded the towing of the iceberg.
November 12th, 2008 at 10:15 am
I thought The Thing was set in the Arctic…Now I must go watch again, the original and the nightmare inducing remake!
November 12th, 2008 at 10:41 am
Impressive pictures. The one with the Milky Way it’s amazing. But I have to quote this:
“Childs: What do we do now?”
“MacReady: Why don’t we just wait here for a little while… see what happens…”
November 12th, 2008 at 11:02 am
Great pix. But some (slightly) bad astronomy too. #15 states:
“The sun dipped below the horizon on March 20th and did not appear again until September 22nd.”
While the March equinox did occur on March 20 at 05:49 UT, and the September equinox on September 22 at 15:45 UT, the Sun would not have dipped below the South Pole’s horizon on the former and reappeared on the latter date.
Assuming a level, flat horizon (a pretty good assumption at the S. Pole) and neglecting atmospheric refraction, the Sun’s _center_ would be on the horizon on the equinoxes. Using Software Bisque’s “The Sky”, the Sun’s refracted upper limb didn’t dip below the horizon until 07:38 UT on March 22, 2008, and the first glint of summer sun would have appeared around 13:20 UT on September 20, 2008.
November 12th, 2008 at 11:10 am
Oh wow, those are gorgeous. And oh hey, my advisor’s in one!
November 12th, 2008 at 11:59 am
Ray: The Saudi attempt was with a hundred meter long berg. The melting was not just from the ocean temp. It was mostly melted by friction with the sea water. I expect if they just coated it with saran wrap it might have worked,,,
GAry 7
November 12th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
I think the best one in the set was the first one. The one with the penguin leaving its nest after 2 weeks of waiting for its mate to return. Just struck me as super sad.
November 12th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
I have only one requirement before I spend anywhere from 8 to 16 large on such a trip.
At some point, I want to pet a penguin.
Now I’ve seen the documentaries where the penguins walk right up to the host (one once climbed right into someone parka hood) so I know it’s possible.
November 12th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Beautiful pictures. However the latest set, on the war in Afghanistan, were a sobering counterpoint. So much beauty and bad in the world.
November 12th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Thanks, Phil. Really, I needed another feed in my reader. Because I don’t have enough to do.
Hmph.
November 12th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
I was there in 2005. Here’s a collection of my pictures:
http://www.orbitsimulator.com/Antarctica/1024page1.html
November 12th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
Most (all?) of these are from the NSF Antarctic Photo Library:
http://photolibrary.usap.gov/
Which means higher-res versions are available, and non-commercial usage is free:
November 12th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
I love love love the one with the Killer Whale. I thought I was looking at the sky with some blowing snow thinking “That’s a weird looking Helicopter.” Then I read the caption, and my brain did a summersault.
November 13th, 2008 at 7:52 am
In that first picture, with the iceberg, is that an apparition of the Virgin Mary, in a blue hooded robe with a luminous white countenance?
November 13th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
James was right. The Thing From Another World (1951)was set in the Arctic, and James Arness was the vegetable.
November 13th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Phil et al.: Read HP Lovecrafts’ AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS and you’ll want to head south posthaste!