Cartoon Corner

While still under construction, KM3NeT, the cubic kilometre neutrino telescope, has been making waves, with its detection of what could be the most powerful neutrino ever detected.

The underwater telescope, located in the Mediterranean with detectors located off the coast of Italy and France, aims to detect the faint light emitted by neutrinos as they interact with atoms in the large dark volume of water. The source of high-energy neutrinos remains a mystery, but could come from the acceleration of cosmic-rays produced by certain supernovae or gamma-ray bursts.

This particular neutrino is estimated to have been 30,000 times more powerful than what can be created in a particle accelerator on Earth, and the team is currently trying to trace its origin, with a dozen extragalactic sources located along its path being investigated. Read the full article in Physics.

Credit: xkcd