Morning has broken

This is the first sunrise at the Concordia research station since last May. The photo was taken by Antonio Litterio, one of the crew staying at the station for the whole hard Antarctic winter. He writes his 'message to the Sun' on the ESA's Concordia blog about this significant moment: 

"It’s 11:10 on the morning of 10 August 2013, and the eastern skies are clear and radiant. I’m surrounded by diffuse light, azure blue in front of me, dark blue behind. There’s still no trace of you but all this anxious waiting is about to come to an end.

"Slowly, on the snow, I see the first signs of you as a band of fiery red light brushes every single ripple of snow between me and the horizon. I watch the light spread. As it approaches me, it broadens like a wide embrace; I look up and there you are, in a blaze of light. I’m incredibly happy. I lose myself for a moment: I only have eyes for you, I immerse myself in you and you reflect in my eyes to light up infinity. 

"My heart leaps and I murmur 'Welcome back'. Before today, I could never have imagined how powerful you are in the mind and heart of someone who has been deprived of you for so long. Ninety days after our last goodbye, here you are once again in all your splendour." 

Read more about Concordia on the Concordia blog.