Event professionals may send tweets from far-flung locations, but wired.com has tracked the Twitter feeds of scientists tweeting from really remote destinations such as outer space or deep undersea.
Since its introduction in 2006, the interactive social media platform Twitter has taken the world by storm. Each second, approximately 6,000 tweets are sent out into the universe, culminating in an astonishing 500 million tweets per day.
Here, according to Wired, are some of the most unusual places people are tweeting from:
Outer space. Scott Kelly holds the record for the most time an American astronaut has spent in space. He is currently commanding the International Space Station’s Expedition 45 crew on a mission, and has been tweeting regularly while in orbit—sending back selfies and images of the Earth. He is scheduled to return to terra firma March 3, 2016, at which point he will have spent 522 total days living in space. He tweeted about that on Oct. 16, saying, “Records are meant to be broken. Look forward to one of my colleagues surpassing [mine] on our Journey to Mars!” Follow Commander Scott Kelly on Twitter @StationCDRKelly.
A remote observatory in Chile. Astronomers prefer to study the universe from places free of artificial light sources. For this reason, many of them flock to the Chajnantor plateau in Chile’s Atacama Desert. There, one will find powerful telescopes operated by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory and its international sponsors. Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) transmits a feed from the spot, located 16,700 feet above sea level, tracking Mars-like rocks and regional wildlife. Follow ALMA on Twitter @ALMANRAO.
Underwater. While a growing number of underwater research stations have been converted into hotels, one working undersea research station still exists off the coast of Key Largo, Florida. Dedicated to advancing science and education, it is located 62 feet under the ocean on a sandy patch near some a coral reef. NASA is one of the organizations that uses the undersea research station. Those who are interested in underwater tweets can follow Aquarius Reef Base on Twitter @ReefBase.
Antarctica. Beth Healey is a British doctor currently working in Antarctica at the Italian/French base Concordia. From a station on the frigid ice plateau, she’s conducting research and studying the effects of extreme conditions on astronauts. At this time of year, she is experiencing 24 hours of sunlight per day. She is doing Twitter chats and answering questions about her unusual living conditions. Follow her on Twitter @Bethahealey.
An island in the middle of the ocean. Alistair Wilson is a penguin and giant petrel zoologist for the British Antarctica Survey. He is currently stationed on Bird Island in South Georgia—a 3-mile-long land mass located in the middle of the ocean, between Argentina and Antarctica. Wilson is live tweeting images of rarely seen wildlife and icebergs breaking up. Follow him on Twitter @_amwphotos.
