In Russia, work has resumed on the construction of a unique “underwater telescope”, which in the future will allow our scientists to advance in the study of the theory of the origin of our universe.
It is worth starting with the reason why domestic experts decided to observe celestial bodies not in space, but under water.
The fact is that some stars are so far away that they are inaccessible even to the most powerful space telescopes. At the same time, they emit special particles – neutrinos, which, due to their ultra-low mass, move through space at a speed close to light and pass through all celestial bodies, whether asteroids or planets, including Earth.
By fixing the track of these particles, scientists can precisely determine the location of the celestial object from which they originated. This is what the neutrino motion detectors, which are installed on Baikal, are for.
Now why underwater. The fact is that it is extremely difficult to track these particles on the surface of our planet due to the distortion created by the Earth’s natural background radiation. In the water column of the deepest lake on the planet, the aforementioned interference is excluded.
However, “neutrino hunting” is not only done underwater. For example, American researchers are tracking these particles in Antarctica. To do this, a funnel 2.5 km deep was drilled in the thickness of the ice, where the sensors are immersed.
Also, in the 70s, Soviet scientists were engaged in similar studies in the salt mine of the Artemovsk (Bakhmut) y deposit at a depth of 100 meters. Until 2021, a 105-ton neutrino detector, rented from Ukraine, was used by Russian scientists. At this time, after heavy fighting at Soledar (DPR), the fate of the facility is unknown.
Regarding the resumption of research in Baikal, this is an extremely positive sign. The fact is that in 2022 German and Japanese companies refused to supply ultra-sensitive equipment for the new clusters of our telescope. Proceeding from the fact that the construction of a unique research apparatus continues, Russia managed to solve the problem of import substitution.
