DULUTH, MN – The R/V Neil Armstrong arrived at Duluth Monday morning from its home port of Woods Hole, MA. The University of Minnesota Duluth is working with the research vessel to detect and observe neutrino interactions in Lake Superior. Neutrinos are the most abundant particles that have mass in the universe, and they pass through everything. They are very difficult to detect, so studying them requires special instruments.
A beam of neutrinos is already positioned by Fermilab that runs through Lake Vermilion and Lake Superior. The Neil Armstrong will deploy sensor frames on the lake bed of Lake Superior several miles offshore near Two Harbors. These frames are 30 feet tall and weigh 8,000 pounds each. When it’s dark at night, they will be able to detect neutrino particle beams underwater. They anticipate detecting several NuMI beam neutrinos per day during the experiments.
View an arrival video with a salute on Facebook here:
R/V Neil Armstrong arriving at Duluth Monday morning. [David Schauer]
