Monday, June 12, 2017

MOONDOG, MOON PILLAR Taken by Stefan Christmann on June 12, 2017 @ Neumayer III Research Station, Antarctica, Atka Bay





After wintering in Antarctica in 2012, I am back at German Antarctic Research Station Neumayer III. This time however I am not here as a scientist, but as part of a BBC film crew getting footage for an upcoming emperor penguin documentary.

Today (June 12th, 2017) we got back from a rather short filming day on the sea ice. At Neumayer, polar night began on May 21st and we have not seen the Sun in a few weeks. Hence, I could not believe my eyes when I opened our station weather monitor (which also shows the image of a webcam pointing at station) and suddenly could see a sundog - or, ehm, well, let’s say a moondog! I quickly grabbed my camera, got dressed and jumped downstairs. I have seen moon halos and moonbows in other parts of the world, but I have never seen „moondogs“. Aside from this there was a very visible „moon pillar“ and in the first shots I took you could even see the upper tangent arc. In combination with a clear and starry sky this was quite the sight. Antarctica is an awesome place, full of little miracles and incredible nature - this needed to be shared with every spaceweather enthusiast.

If you want to see more images from Antarctica, feel free to follow me on Instagram (@christmannphoto) or checkout my blog at www.nature-in-focus.de

Camera (Nikon D810 with AF-S 24-120 f/4) was set to ISO 1600-3200, f/4-8 and exposure times of 15-30s


No comments:

Post a Comment