ANTARES

The aim of this experiment, whose acronym stands for the rather ungainly Astronomy with a Neutrino Telescope and Abyss environmental RESearch, is to answer questions about the composition of deep space by detecting neutrinos on the seafloor. ANTARES, scheduled for completion in 2006, will use water 8,200 feet below the surface of the Mediterranean off the south coast of France to detect the particles called muons, which are produced when neutrinos from space interact in Earth's core. Muons create radiation as they pass through water, and an array of approximately 1,000 photomultiplier tubes on 10 vertical strings spread over a mile and a half of seafloor sense and measure them. This image shows part of the ANTARES during installation in the Mediterranean.