Winter is over: Sun rises in Antarctica after four months of darkness

After four months of darkness, the sun is finally out over the frigid world of Antarctica. The European Space Agency (ESA) announced the Sun's arrival as the 12-member crew of the Concordia research station woke up to a bright morning on the southern extreme of the world.

The Antarctic long night began in May this year as the Sun set for four months, which is normally considered a goldmine for space research while living on Earth. With the Sun, now out, a new batch of researchers will pour into the station that has remained functioning through the winter.

ESA released a picture of the sun rising above the horizon captured by medical doctor Hannes Hagson on August 5, who said, "Time here has the strange quality of both passing really quickly and very slowly at the same time, and in just two days we expect the return of the sun to grace us here at 75 degrees south! The returning daylight certainly has us all cheered up and starting to sense the beginning of the final part of this adventure.”

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The crew living in the frigid environment braced for extreme temperatures that fell down to 80 degrees Celsius under a pitch-black sky. The crew has been busy conducting biomedical research, gathering data from crew urine, stool, and blood samples, as well as cognitive and psychological measures through questionnaires to study the effects of isolated, confined, and extreme environments on the human body.

This image was taken by Hannes on 3 May. The last full sunset took place the day after but appeared only as a thin sliver in the sky. (Photo: ESA)

The research will pave the way and provide new insights that could help astronauts, who will go on long-haul journeys through space as Nasa begins missions to the Moon and plans to launch to Mars in the future.

The crew will begin to prepare the base for the summer campaign in October as they welcome 40 researchers to the base. Located 3233 m above sea level, the Italian-French outpost Concordia is a goldmine of research.

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Seasons in Antarctica

While the world experiences four major seasons, Antarctica has just two - summers and winters - as it remains covered in thick ice. The region has six months of daylight in its summer and six months of darkness in its winter.

Seasons on Earth are caused by the tilt of the planet's axis in relation to the sun and as the Earth orbits the sun, different parts of the planet are exposed to direct sunlight. According to Nasa, during summer, Antarctica is on the side of Earth tilted toward the sun and is in constant sunlight. In the winter, Antarctica is on the side of Earth tilted away from the sun, causing the continent to be dark.

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