It surely is a staircase to the stars. That’s the ICL’s staircase, set against a backdrop of bright auroras low in the sky with a wide swath of the Milky Way above. Last week at the Pole was very much like the previous one—a well-behaved, quiet detector and an active night sky. The stars were out, the Milky Way showed itself, and the auroras went above and beyond. There were quite a few aurora showers, one in which a jagged vertical aurora resembled a streak of lightning. The last image shows an aurora shower that was bright enough to cast shadows as the winterovers returned to the station from the ICL. In other news from the Pole, winterover Martin took first place in the initial round of the poker tournament, which will continue monthly until the end of winter, when the person with the most points gets the trophy.
