🚀 China's Massive JUNO Observatory is Complete!
After more than nine years of construction, the main body of China's Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) was completed on Wednesday! 🎉 Located deep underground in Jiangmen City, Guangdong Province, this colossal detector is set to dive into the mysterious world of neutrinos—often dubbed \"ghost particles\" because they're so elusive.
So, what's the big deal about JUNO? Imagine a transparent sphere the size of a 10-story building—35.4 meters in diameter—surrounded by a stainless steel shell and buried 700 meters underground. It's like something straight out of a sci-fi movie! 🤖 With 45,000 photomultiplier tubes (think of them as super-sensitive cameras), JUNO is poised to capture these ghostly particles and help us unlock secrets about the universe, from the tiniest particles to the vastness of space. 🌌
The installation of these photomultiplier tubes was just completed, marking a major milestone for the project. When neutrinos pass through the detector, they interact with a special liquid, producing tiny flashes of light (scintillation light) that these tubes detect. It's like catching whispers from the universe! 💫
Why should you care? Well, understanding neutrinos could answer some of the biggest questions in physics, like why there's more matter than antimatter. Plus, it's a reminder of how awesome human ingenuity is! 🧠
JUNO is set to start operations next year. Get ready, because the universe is about to spill some of its best-kept secrets! 🔮
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
