Digital Optical Module (DOM) from the IceCube neutrino detector

SMG00229109 Digital Optical Module (DOM) from the IceCube neutrino detector Digital Optical Module (DOM) from the IceCube neutrino detector Digital Optical Module (DOM) from the IceCube neutrino detector

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Creative Commons LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Licence

Buy this image as a print 

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License this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library

License

Creative Commons LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Licence

Buy this image as a print 

Buy

License this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library

License

Creative Commons LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Licence

Buy this image as a print 

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License this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library

License

SMG00229109
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Digital Optical Module (DOM) from the IceCube neutrino detector. Designed by IceCube consortium led by University of Wisconsin-Madison and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA and deployed at the IceCube observatory in Antarctica.

IceCube, the world’s largest neutrino detector, is based at the South Pole. Buried within a square kilometre of Antarctic ice is an array of 3600 Digital Optical Modules. The DOMs are held on "strings" of sixty modules each at depths ranging from 1,450 to 2,450 meters, inserted into holes melted in the ice by a hot water drill.

IceCube detects neutrinos – high-energy particles given out in violent astronomical events like stellar explosions, gamma ray bursts and black hole collisions – by looking for radiation emitted by charged particles that are created when neutrinos react with the water molecules in the ice. Because neutrinos only rarely interact with matter, very large and sensitive detectors are required to detect enough of them to pinpoint their source, and it can be hard to separate the signal out from interference. The clever IceCube design means that the neutrinos travel through a very pure and transparent ‘lens’ of Antarctic ice, in which there are no other signals to confuse the detected radiation. The radiation is detected by photomultiplier tubes within the DOMs and the signal sent by cable to the surface for analysis.

Details

Category:
Astronomy
Object Number:
2015-335
Materials:
Borosilicate glass, photomultiplier tube, electronic components
Measurements:
overall: 250 mm, 9kg
type:
digital optical module
credit:
Wisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Center