ANTARES
The aim of this experiment, whose acronym stands for the rather ungainly Astronomy with a Neutrino Telescope and Abyss
environmental RESearch, is to answer questions about the composition of
deep space by detecting neutrinos on the seafloor. ANTARES, scheduled for
completion in 2006, will use water 8,200 feet below the surface of the
Mediterranean off the south coast of France to detect the particles called
muons, which are produced when neutrinos from space interact in Earth's core.
Muons create radiation as they pass through water, and an array of
approximately 1,000 photomultiplier tubes on 10 vertical strings spread over a
mile and a half of seafloor sense and measure them. This image shows part of
the ANTARES during installation in the Mediterranean.
