So the first of the many things that I have to share with you is the concept of 24hr sunlight. It truly is something that you cant imagine, your perception of time goes right out the window because think about the amount of time you see it getting dark and either get tired or simply know its late. This doesn't happen at all, therefore you don't get the natural reaction to go to sleep. My example is shown below try to guess which one is day and which one is night;

Now maybe you guessed right but I certainly would not have, the top picture was taken at 2pm and the bottom picture was taken at midnight. That's right blue sky at midnight, never thought I would see that. Now moving on to today which was my official first day of work, upon entering the University I had to take my shoes off which is a custom here in Longyearbyen.

The above picture is from the apartment complex where you also have to take off your shoes upon entering the building. My understanding is that this tradition started when it was mostly a mining town and buildings wanted to keep out the mining dust. So I got to walk around the University all day in my socks which is the only way to be inside so I am a fan of this tradition. Now on to the inside of UNIS which is the university here in Longyearbyen, and after taking off my shoes I was directed to my office;

Which the best part of is the fact that anytime I turn towards the window I see this outside.

The building pictured above is the other wing of the University. Now this University just had work done to it in order to expand it and when being in the new section (where my office is) my thought that the Norwegians had a talent for architecture was completely cemented. This is the hallway where I work;

Why don't all buildings look like this. Then after settling into my office I was shown the lab where I will be working in UNIS. This is truly where the magic happens;

This is the main room that contains most of the instrumentation involved in what I will be doing. The large green sphere to the right side of the picture is called an integration sphere, its purpose is to provide uniform light such that it has a intensity variance across the front port of +-2%. Therefore you can shine this light into a camera and by knowing what the camera should see you can see where the camera faults are by analyzing the camera's output, or its picture. What I am trying to do is calibrate a camera that looks at the entire night sky and provides a "fish eye" picture. This means that we have to put the camera within  the sphere, and this is what I have to figure out how to do.

Finally the question of the day, what does not belong in the picture below?