Dusk

The sun doesn't rise or set very quickly at the poles. Even after it dips beyond view, the world stays well lit for weeks. Sort of like an extended evening.


It's still easy to tell time by the sun, just by finding the brightest portion of the sky. Opposite that, the earth's shadow is growing daily, a sapphire blue band against the still pale sky. A slight rainbow persists on the edge of the earth shadow, adding the only touch of color in our world.

Not to say that things are drab now down here - far from it. Everything has now taken on one shade or another of blue, and the world almost glows with a thin, cold light. It's an enormous contrast to the glittering, white, shiny world of the day, but just as beautiful.

No longer warmed by the sun's rays, every surface now accumulates frost and wind-driven snow. Whereas in sunlight that accumulation would sublimate away, it now simply sits and builds. Everything is becoming encased in ice crystals, lending an eery, untouchable, end-of-time sort of feel to the world.

Everything here continues to amaze and delight. I can't wait for the stars.