Antarctica's abandoned capital hides a window to extraterrestrial life.

In the summer of 1912, a Norwegian whaling company established a base in one of the most remote and dangerous places on the planet: Deception Island, formed by an active volcano that rises into the waters of Antarctica. The enormous tanks used to store whale oil still stand out in the ruins of the whaling station , abandoned in 1931. Also still standing here are the boilers used by whalers to extract oil from the meat, which was sold as lamp fuel. The hunters killed thousands of whales each year to enlighten humanity.

The whaling station was once the virtual capital of Antarctica, but today only desolation remains. The whalers' cemetery, with 34 graves , was buried by a volcanic eruption in 1969. Two solitary crosses still commemorate the Norwegians Hans Gulliksen and Peder Knapstad , who died a century ago at this end of the world.

At this Antarctic volcano, temperatures drop below minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus 0 degrees Fahrenheit) and wind gusts of 160 kilometers per hour are recorded. The conditions are so extreme that a team of astrobiologists proposed in February in the International Journal of Astrobiology that Deception Island be used as a model for searching for possible life-bearing sites on Mars. The interaction of volcanic activity with glaciers can provide a home for microscopic living beings, according to the scientists, led by Angélica Leal of the University of Alcalá, who conducted research with support from the Spanish military base Gabriel de Castilla. Deception Island, so hostile that it expels human life, is a natural laboratory for studying potential extraterrestrial life on Mars.