IceCube, the Antarctic neutrino detector that in July of 2018 helped unravel one of the oldest riddles in physics and astronomy — the origin of high-energy neutrinos and cosmic rays — is getting an upgrade.
It has been a week since the 36th International Cosmic Ray Conference ended in Madison, WI. Over the course of eight days of meetings, 815 participants from 39 countries gathered at Memorial Union at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. In total, the meeting yielded 1,056 papers, 406 oral talks, 650 posters, 35 plenary talks, two diversity events, a public lecture, and an art gallery.
That’s a lot of green!—it looks like a backdrop fit for Wicked. But views like this, of strong auroras over the IceCube Lab (ICL), will soon be gone, so the winterovers are capturing the night sky while they still can.
From July 22-24, the Multimessenger Diversity Network (MDN) met at the Wisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Center, located at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, the lead institution of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory.
Last week was a mostly quiet one at the South Pole station. With winds blowing up to 40 knots for the early part of the week, people were trying to stay indoors.
Mention the word “neutrino” to the casual observer and chances are they will look at you with interrogation in their face. They might have a fuzzy idea that this is an elementary particle, but they probably won’t know why it is important, who studies it, or where and how. This is why any initiative to engage all segments of society in alternative approaches to contemplating cosmic ray research is a welcome one. Art is perhaps one of the greatest vehicles to do this.
