Distant Neutrinos Detected Below Antarctic Ice
Explanation:
From where do these neutrinos come?
The
IceCube Neutrino Observatory
near the South Pole of the Earth has begun to detect
nearly
invisible particles of very high energy.
Although these rarely-interacting
neutrinos pass through
much of the Earth just before being detected, where they started remains a mystery.
Pictured here
is IceCube's Antarctic lab accompanied by a cartoon depicting
long strands of detectors frozen into the crystal clear
ice below.
Candidate origins for these cosmic neutrinos include the violent surroundings of
supermassive
black holes
at the centers of distant galaxies, and tremendous stellar explosions culminating
in
gamma ray bursts far across
the universe.
As
IceCube detects increasingly more high
energy
neutrinos,
correlations with known objects may resolve this cosmic conundrum -- or we may never
know.
Astrophysicists:
Browse 1,100+ codes in the Astrophysics Source Code Library
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
