Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2021 October 5 [2]The picture shows the sun rising last week at the South Pole during equinox. A communications tower marks the foreground, and the Sun shows a green flash at the top. Please see the explanation for more detailed information. Sunrise at the South Pole Image Credit & Copyright: [3]Martin Wolf ([4]U. Wisconsin), [5]IceCube Neutrino Obs., [6]NSF; [7]ht: [8]Alice Allen Explanation: Sunrise at the South Pole is different. Usually a [9]welcome sight, it follows months of darkness -- and begins months of sunshine. At [10]Earth's poles, it can [11]take weeks for the Sun to rise, in contrast with just minutes at any mid-[12]latitude location. [13]Sunrise at a pole is caused by the [14]tilt of the Earth as it orbits the [15]Sun, not by the [16]rotation of the Earth. Although at a pole, an airless Earth would first see first Sun at an [17]equinox, the [18]lensing effect of the [19]Earth's atmosphere and the size of the [20]solar disk causes the top of the Sun to appear about two-weeks early. Pictured two weeks ago, the Sun peaks above the horizon of a [21]vast [22]frozen [23]landscape at Earth's South Pole. The true [24]South Pole is just a few meters to the left of the communications tower. This polar sunrise capture was particularly photogenic as the Sun appeared capped by a [25]green flash. Tomorrow's picture: streaming orion __________________________________________________________________ [26]< | [27]Archive | [28]Submissions | [29]Index | [30]Search | [31]Calendar | [32]RSS | [33]Education | [34]About APOD | [35]Discuss | [36]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [37]Robert Nemiroff ([38]MTU) & [39]Jerry Bonnell ([40]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [41]Specific rights apply. [42]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [43]ASD at [44]NASA / [45]GSFC & [46]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2110/SouthPoleSunRise_Wolf_6279.jpg 3. https://icecube.wisc.edu/news/life-at-the-pole/2020/11/meet-icecube-2020-2021-winterovers-josh-and-martin/ 4. https://icecube.wisc.edu/ 5. https://icecube.wisc.edu/about-us/overview/ 6. https://www.nsf.gov/ 7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hat_tip 8. http://ascl.net/wordpress/about-ascl/people/alice_allen/ 9. https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51ZjBEW+qNL._AC_.jpg 10. https://sealevel.jpl.nasa.gov/internal_resources/264/ 11. https://www.nasa.gov/analogs/nsf/sunrise_sunset 12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latitude 13. https://youtu.be/Xi4MaJKd1gA 14. https://pwg.gsfc.nasa.gov/stargaze/Sfigs/Stilt.gif 15. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/sun/overview/ 16. https://youtu.be/LUW51lvIFjg 17. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equinox 18. https://www.quora.com/Why-can-the-sun-be-seen-for-a-few-minutes-before-it-rises-above-the-horizon 19. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/science/atmosphere-layers2.html 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap040623.html 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap111211.html 22. https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2021/10/01/south-pole-coldest-winter-record/ 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap111211.html 24. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Pole 25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140604.html 26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap211004.html 27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 30. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 32. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 33. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 34. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 35. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=211005 36. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap211006.html 37. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 38. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 39. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 40. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 41. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 42. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 43. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 44. https://www.nasa.gov/ 45. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 46. http://www.mtu.edu/