IceCube scientists open a window on to subatomic astronomy

Thousands of optical sensors beneath the surface of the south pole detect neutrinos from deep space, giving clues to cosmic events

They have had to sort through 100 billion subatomic particles to perfect their craft, but physicists using the IceCube Observatory in Antarctica now believe they are on course to create a new science: neutrino astronomy.

Neutrinos emanate from many sources, including black holes and energetic galactic cores and are known to come in three interchangeable forms, or flavours - a discovery that has won Takaaki Kajita and Arthur McDonald the 2015 Nobel prize for Physics. By learning how to channel neutrinos inside their instruments, physicists can look at distant, explosive events in a new way.