For the first time, data from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory is able to be visualized in three dimensions using the Living Environments Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, according to a news release.
Buried deep beneath South Pole ice, IceCube is a detector that uses neutrinos, which are nearly massless and electrically neutral particles, to observe outer space.
The LEL is housed in the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery and projects 3-D images received from the IceCube’s sensors, creating a virtual reality that permits users to look “inside the ice” and navigate space with a joystick.
The LEL will help to illustrate events revealed by neutrino interactions better than two dimensional imaging. In addition, it allows for the direction, energy and type of neutrino to be determined by analyzing the intensity and sequence of the light seen in neutrino events.
The project’s next phase will consist of compiling a record of noteworthy neutrino interactions, LEL researchers said in the release.
