* Astronomy

Atop an Antarctic Volcano, NSF-funded Researcher Finds Camp Site from the "Heroic Age" of Antarctic Exploration

A National Science Foundation-funded research team working on the slopes of the world's southernmost active volcano appears to have found the remains of a camp used by explorers of the so-called "Heroic Age" of Antarctic exploration, a century after the camp was abandoned.
Although photos of the site, known as "the highest camp", appear to match an archival photograph taken by members of the 1912 Terra Nova expedition led by Royal Navy Captain Robert F. Scott, conservators from the New Zealand-based Antarctic Heritage Trust have been asked to verify the historic find.
The find comes in the closing days of the centennial of the so-called "Race to the Pole" between Scott and Norwegian Roald Amundsen. Amundsen reached the geographic South Pole on Dec. 14, 1911, five weeks before Scotts party. In the tragic finish to the race, Scott and his men perished on the ice on their return trip, only a few miles from safety.
Read more

Four things Captain Scott found in Antarctica

A century ago, Captain Robert Scott and his team set out on a doomed race to be first to the South Pole. They failed in this quest - but that wasn't all they were doing in this mysterious ice-bound land.
It is an expedition best known for its failure. Not only did a Norwegian rival beat Captain Scott to the South Pole, but his five-man team died on the return journey.
Read more