WE may have missed the sunshine earlier this summer, but spare a thought for one Oxford doctor who will not see sunlight for another month.

Alexander Kumar, who works at Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital , is spending a year in Antarctica conducting scientific experiments.

He is based at the Concordia base at the South Pole, where temperatures drop to below -80C and the sun disappeared for three months in May.

The 29-year-old, a trainee anaesthetics doctor with the Oxford School of Anaesthesia, said: “By mid-August we will have our first sunrise but the sun will only be partly above the horizon and only for a few minutes.

“It will increase over the months until December when we will be in 24-hour sun.”

The lack of sunlight does, however, have some benefits for Dr Kumar and his 12 colleagues at the base – it makes for some amazing photographs.

He took these “unforgettable” shot of Aurora Australis, or the southern lights, last Wednesday.

He said: “I was left gasping in awe at the magnificent universe we live in. It was simply the most wonderful sight I have ever seen and one I will never forget.”

Dr Kumar is working as the station’s medical doctor and conducting human spaceflight research for the European Space Agency.

To find out more about Dr Kumar and his research, visit alexanderkumar.com