Russian scientists deploy giant telescope in Lake Baikal to study tiniest known particles

As their latest attempt to discover neutrinos- the tiniest known particles in the universe, Russian scientists have now deployed giant telescope into the frigid depths of Lake Baikal. Researchers have been in the quest for the microscopic particles in the lake since 2003, but the gigantic telescope is the biggest instrument deployed so far. While neutrinos are ubiquitous, their negligible interaction with other particles makes them extremely difficult to detect. 

Pertaining to the same problem, the researchers are now looking for neutrinos in Lake Baikal. Located in southern Siberia, the 5,777 feet lake is the deepest lake on the entire planet. As per researchers, the lake’s clear freshwater and thick ice cover make it the ideal place for their search. On March 13, scientists deployed the neutrino detector through the ice about 2.5 miles from the lakeshore in the south, lowering modules made of string, glass spheres and stainless steel up to 4,300 feet (1,310 m) into the water. 

How does it function? 

The glass spheres of the detector hold ‘photomultiplier tubes’. These tubes emit a particular kind of light when a neutrino passes through a clear medium (in this case, lake water) at a speed faster than light travels through that same medium. This light is called the Cherenkov light. 

_{Credits: baikalgvd.jinr.ru/telescope/}

The detector called Baikal GVD  is about half the size of the largest neutrino detector on Earth, the IceCube South Pole Neutrino Observatory. This detector, with its sensors engraved one cubic kilometre in the ice, are located in the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica. The IceCube detects about 275 neutrinos from Earth's atmosphere each day, according to scientists on the project. 

(Promo Image Credit: inr.ru)