The 18th was my last full day at the pole. So, that morning Don and I posed for the obligatory photos at the ceremonial and geographic south poles. Because this was also the peak of the Keck population, the group photo shoot rounded out my obligatory photos for the day.
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- Don at the geographic pole
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- Then Don takes photos of me at the geographic south pole
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- The pole and the elevated station
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- Between the poles are snow sculptures, like this dragon
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- And this snow inukshuk
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- And some fanciful giant mushrooms
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- Then it’s my turn to pose at the ceremonial south pole
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- Wider, can see the station and flags too (of all Antarctic Treaty signatories)
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- Don at the ceremonial pole
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- Another self portrait in the ceremonial pole’s shiny sphere
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- Don and I in the sphere
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- Focal plane, with cover plate back on, and cables attached
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- Spy camera, to monitor from inside when people are inside the ground shield
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- Keck outisde, with single forebaffle. There will be two more telescopes installed this season, and two more in the next
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- Ze Choppa completed in is box
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- It sits atop a not-yet-raised mast, for viewing from DSL
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- A wide shot of the lab area in MAPO. I realized that I didn’t yet have such a picture
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- Housekeeping crate, full of a collection of tiny boards plugged into a backplane. This interfaces between the BLASTbus crate and the cryostats
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- Focal plane mounted atop the ridiculously thin legs, above the spittoon bottom
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- The pressure in the cooling K1 cryostat seems high, so the leak checker is brought out (there was no leak)
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- Needle for directing helium flow while leak checking
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- Dressing for the group photo, I try on Don’s top hat (photo: Don)
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- Zak loiters by the telescope, as Robert’s test subject (photo Robert)
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- The Keck (and BICEP2) group (photo: Robert)
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- And then showing of the “K” gang symbol (photo: Robert)
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- South Pole Station. From the middle of the skiway on an unusual partly cloudy day
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- Super awesome passport stamp for having visited the station
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