First live broadcast from South Pole to feature University research team

"Live From Antarctica," a series of four 40-minute live telecasts from Antarctica, will be broadcast on PBS in December and January. The programs, which will be interactive teleconferences linking scientists in Antarctica with two classrooms of secondary-school students, including one in Chicago, will be carried live on WTTW/Channel 11 at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 13; 1 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 15; 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 10; and noon Thursday, Jan. 19.

The third segment (Jan. 10) will be broadcast from the South Pole -- marking the first live television broadcast from that remote location -- and will feature a University of Chicago research team headed by Mark Hereld, Senior Research Associate in Astronomy & Astrophysics. Hereld's team provided photographs of Jupiter from the South Pole Infrared Explorer (SPIREX) telescope when Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 collided with Jupiter in July.

Check local listings to confirm broadcast dates and times.