Curtin University | 2019 May 21
Curtin University researchers are part of an international project that will use a huge underwater neutrino telescope at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea to help explain some of the most powerful and mysterious events in the universe.
Located at two sites at depths of up to 3,500 meters, the KM3NeT telescope will occupy more than a cubic kilometre of water, and will comprise of hundreds of vertical detection lines anchored to the seabed and held in place by buoys when complete. ...
“Neutrinos very rarely interact, however when a neutrino hits water it generates light, which the KM3NeT telescope is able to detect,” Dr. James said.
“The underwater telescope is bombarded by millions of different particles but only neutrinos can pass through the Earth to reach the detector from below so, unlike normal telescopes, it looks down through the Earth at the same sky viewed by upward-facing telescopes in Australia.” ...
“Each line has 18 modules equipped with light sensors along its length and, in the darkness of the deep ocean, these sensors register the faint flashes of a special light that signals the interaction of neutrinos with the seawater,” ...
