The largest telescope in the world, known as IceCube, took 10 years to construct. It is located at a depth of 2,400 meters below the Antarctic ice sheet.
With a size of 1 cubic kilometer, IceCube surpasses the combined heights of the Empire State Building, the Sears Tower in Chicago, and the Shanghai World Financial Center. Designed to observe neutrinos, which are often emitted by stars and travel at speeds close to that of light, this telescope has attracted the attention of numerous experts, especially in the context of the scientific community’s excitement over the discovery of the Higgs boson, the fundamental particle of the universe.
Above IceCube at the South Pole – Photo: physicsworld
“You raise one finger, and hundreds of billions of neutrinos pass through it every second from the sun,” Reuters quoted Jenni Adams, a physicist from the University of Canterbury (New Zealand), who is currently working at IceCube.
In reality, IceCube consists of a series of light-detecting devices buried deep within the thick ice layer, created through the process of hot-water drilling. When neutrinos interact with the ice, they produce charged particles, which then generate light.
The ice layer acts as a sieve to isolate neutrino particles, making them easier to observe. Moreover, the ice also serves as a shield, protecting the telescope from harmful radiation effects.
“If a supernova explosion occurs within the Milky Way, we can detect hundreds of neutrinos thanks to IceCube,” stated expert Adams at the International Conference on Energy Physics in Melbourne, Australia, addressing a large gathering of the press.
Prior to the completion of IceCube in 2010, scientists had only observed 14 neutrinos.
Experts hope that by tracing the origin of neutrino particles, humans will gain crucial clues about what has occurred in the universe, particularly in invisible realms like dark matter.