IceCube Photos: Physics Lab Buried Under Antarctic Ice
Jeanna Bryner
A gigantic observatory called IceCube lurks beneath Antarctic ice at the South Pole, where detectors scan the cosmos for ghostly, near-massless neutrinos. The network of people who make the lab run (called the IceCube Collaboration) includes about 300 physicists hailing from 45 institutions and 12 countries. (Photo Credit: Dag Larsen, IceCube/NSF) Gorgeous strings The part of the observatory that’s buried beneath the ice holds 5,160 sensors called digital optical modules (DOMs). (Photo Credit: Jim Haugen, IceCube/NSF) Leaving a mark The team of scientists, engineers and drillers who deployed the observatory in December 2010 signed the last sensor before it was buried beneath a mile of Antarctic ice. (Photo Credit: DESY) Sista Here the last DOM, which was assembled at Stockholm University.