This $271 Million Telescope Is Buried Under the South Pole [Astronomy]

The IceCube Neutrino Observatory , built over a decade at a value of $271 million, is buried under the South Pole… and longer than the sector’s tallest skyscrapers combined.

Late last week construction of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory wrapped up at the National Science Foundation’s Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica. The team of international scientists behind the trouble have give you something truly remarkable in building the arena’s largest neutrino observatory . The huge telescope, that is the scale of a cubic kilometer and located 1400 meters underground, took a decade to build and price approximately $271 million. Oh, and in case you lined up the arena’s three tallest skyscrapers, their collective height could be shorter than this telescope.

IceCube is operated by the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the National Science Foundation, with funding provided by the usa, Belgium, Germany, and Sweden. Researchers from Barbados, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Switzerland and the United Kingdom are also enthusiastic about the project.

For IceCube, construction at the South Pole all came right down to their scientific goals. The observatory is designed find extremely high energy neutrinos-tiny subatomic particles-originating from supernova explosions, gamma-ray bursts and black holes, with an emphasis on expanding humankind’s knowledge of Dark Matter . Neutrinos, in step with current scientific theory, play a very important part in detecting Dark Matter .

The IceCube Observatory is designed to detect a blue light, called Cherenkov radiation , created by the nuclear reactions of individual neutrinos crashing into ice atoms. Cherenkov radiation is normally considered to be the equivalent of a sonic boom for light.

Building the Observatory at the South Pole offered the opportunity to exploit the various world’s clearest and purest ice, minimizing any risk of distorted experiment results. Consistent with the IceCube Observatory team, building the telescope required an existing scientific station nearby for logistical purposes-that’s how the project ended up become constructed adjacent to the us’ South Pole complex.

Construction of the IceCube telescope, as you can imagine, was an engineering feat. University of Wisconsin scientists built a personalized hot water drill capable of penetrating more than 1.2 miles of Antarctic ice. These multiple deep holes inside the Antarctic ice were then stuffed with sensors and support equipment. Each hole took approximately 48 hours to drill.

All telescope components, employees, contractors, equipment and food were flown to Antarctica and then delivered on ski-equipped C-130 planes from McMurdo Station to the South Pole, an approximately 800 mile flight. Approximately 150 specialists worked in construction and logistics at the South Pole during the last decade, with the bulk of the work being done in round-the-clock shifts in the course of the Antarctic summer. A small, hardy skeleton staff remained at McMurdo Station through the unimaginable South Pole winters.

Now that the IceCube Observatory is completed and completely operational, data collection will allow scientists to add considerably to humankind’s knowledge of astrophysics. IceCube’s principal investigator, Francis Halzen, is optimistic:

Since the 1970s we’ve dreamed of creating a detector of this size, and we’ve got spent twenty years working toward IceCube [...] If the science to come back brings half the thrill of completing this instrument, we have got a bright future ahead. With the completion of IceCube, we are on our method to reaching a level of sensitivity that can allow us to peer neutrinos from sources beyond the sun.

During the years of construction, the University of Wisconsin posted a detailed guide to life at the South Pole , which praises the recreational opportunities at the South Pole station while (understandably) groaning at the weather. The finished observatory is longer than the Petronas Towers, the Empire State Building, and the Willis Tower/Sears Tower combined .

[Image courtesy B. Gudbjartsson/National Science Foundation via University of Wisconsin-Madison]

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This post is tagged: amundsen scott south pole station, international scientists, national science foundation, subatomic particles, supernova explosions, university of wisconsin madison