China has just taken its search for the universe's tiniest messengers to the depths of the ocean! 🌊⚛️ On December 1, 2025, the deep-sea neutrino detector Hailing completed its sea trials for the flexible buoy carrier that will hold its photodetectors. Now, scientists are gearing up to lower the first batch of detectors to 3,500 meters below the surface in 2026.
Neutrinos, often called ghost particles, are mind-blowingly light, carry no electric charge, and barely interact with anything–so they're almost impossible to catch. But that's exactly why they're so valuable: they speed through exploding stars, black holes, and even the early universe, carrying secrets from places where light can't reach.
Detecting neutrinos means watching for the rare sparks they leave behind when they finally collide with atomic nuclei or electrons. On land or in space, cosmic rays and background radiation create too much noise. Underwater, seawater acts as a natural shield, turning the deep sea into a quiet cosmic observatory.
Hailing, which means ocean bell, is designed to listen to these faint whispers from the cosmos. Combined with the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO), China's new undersea array could unlock fresh clues about how the universe was born. Get ready for a wave of discoveries! 🚀👻
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
