Ghost Particles from Space

A giant detector at the South Pole managed to "catch" a rare particle, the Cosmic Neutrino - and thus open the door to new methods of observation of the sky.

Of all the elementary particles are dispersed in the universe ,
neutrinos including the most unique and rare . Because the particles have a very small mass can penetrate the material without showing any reaction . This means that millions of Neutrinos can fly through our bodies at this time without realizing it . Yet scientists are trying to take advantage of these particles to create a new generation of telescopes .The biggest breakthrough came in the form of experiments in the most vicious in the world , the South Pole . There, the scientists buried detector " IceCube " into the Antarctic permafrost . The giant device for the first time able to detect neutrinos coming from outer space - and thus prove efficacious Neutrino telescope ." IceCube " finished assembled 2010 ago . To bury , the scientists used a hot water drill and make 86 holes , each 2.5 kilometers deep . A metal thread is placed in each hole . Glass ball for him to rely basketball . More than 5000 such glass balls scattered on the ice and serves as a light sensor . Catch balls Neutrino signals inadvertently " caught up " in the eternal ice of Antarctica .


Flashes of light rare

"Due to its form resembling a ghost, neutrinos can pass through our detectors without leaving a trace," said Christian Spiering, a physicist at DESY Research Centre in Berlin. Spiering including one of 250 scientists who work for IceCube. "Sometimes only, and is quite rare, that it touches one of the particles of atomic nuclei." In case it will create a flash of blue light that is captured by the glass ball. 

In this way IceCube since 2010 is able to detect more than 100,000 Neutrino. His case is that these neutrinos coming from the Earth's atmosphere. The particles created by the Earth's atmosphere is bombarded by cosmic radiation from outer space.

"Actually we hunt other types of neutrinos," said Spiering. "The particles are not created in the earth's atmosphere, but coming from a very distant place in space."

28 witnesses

"Neutrino Kosmis," begitulah para ilmuwan membaptis partikel hantu tersebut. Partikel spesial itu tercipta melalui kejadian esktrem, seperti misalnya ketika lubang hitam menyedot materi dalam jumlah besar di sekelilingnya. Atau ketika sebuah bintang besar meregang nyawa dan mati dalam ledakan raksasa alias Supernova.

Jika ilmuwan berhasil mendeteksi Neutrino yang terbentuk pada peristiwa kosmis semacam itu, ilmu pengetahuan bisa mendapat informasi baru mengenai lubang hitam dan Supernova. Pengetahuan semacam itu tidak mungkin didapat dengan teknologi teleskop yang ada saat ini.

Kini IceCube berhasil mendeteksi Neutrino Kosmis, 28 seluruhnya - sebuah terobosan yang sejak lama sudah dinanti para ilmuwan, "dengan ini kita membuka jendela pengamatan baru terhadap alam semesta," kata Christian Spiering.

Para ilmuwan masih harus menganalisa data dan informasi yang didapat dari partikel-partikel tersebut. Sejauh ini ada dugaan, kebanyakan Neutrino yang menghampiri bumi berasal dari jantung galaksi Bima Sakti, alias dari rasi bintang Sagitarius A, di mana terdapat lubang hitam raksasa, tapi "untuk memastikannya kita masih harus mengumpulkan data selama satu atau dua tahun lagi," sanggah Spiering.