Russian scientists sank a neutrino observatory into the world’s deepest lake

Recently Russian scientists lowered a series of detectors between 2,500 and 4,300 feet below the surface of Lake Baikal. These sensors formed the Baikal-Gigaton Volume Detector which is said to be the largest underwater telescope in the northern hemisphere.

This detector will help scientists to study neutrinos which are too small for humans to study with regular observation tools. This detector was a joint project between Russia, Germany, Poland, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic, construction on Baikal-GVD started in 2015. The actual ‘telescope’ consists of hundreds of spherical modules made of glass and stainless steel connected to the surface through a set of cables. Those sensors currently occupy an area measuring 17,657 cubic feet. With time, more telescopes of much larger size will be added to the detector.

The reason behind this project to study the neutrinos more extensively and it is to be noted that Lake Baikal has a lot of neutrinos. Located in South Siberia, it is one of the world’s largest and deepest freshwater lakes. It is also pristine and covered for at least two months of the year. The only two other telescopes that match it in scale are the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica and the ANTARES telescope deep underwater in the Mediterranean Sea.