07-14 July 3, 2007
Contact: Images are available at: http://www.auger.org/media/ For immediate release
Auger Observatory shares cosmic-ray data with public, students
MALARGÜE, Argentina -- Scientists of the Pierre Auger Collaboration will begin today (July 3) the public release of one percent of the cosmic-ray events recorded by the Pierre Auger Observatory in Argentina. New cosmic-ray data-about 70 events per day-will be posted on a daily basis. The data and their visualizations are available at www.auger.org and www.auger.org.ar. The international Pierre Auger Collaboration, which includes scientists from 17 countries, explores the origins of extremely rare ultra-high-energy cosmic rays-particles from space that hit Earth, some with energies 100 million times higher than those made by the world's highest-energy particle accelerator, the Tevatron at Fermilab. These are the highest-energy particles ever recorded in nature. When such a particle hits the atmosphere it creates an air shower that can contain 200 billion particles by the time it reaches the ground. The one-percent release is part of the worldwide Pierre Auger education and outreach program. It will allow teachers to expose students to real scientific data and the breathtaking processes that take place in the cosmos, hurling charged particles toward Earth. The two Web sites provide the data both as graphical displays and in tabular form. For each cosmic-ray air shower, the Web sites show the energy and direction of the incoming cosmic-ray particle. The public data provides information on cosmic-rays with extremely high energy, up to 5 x 10^19 electron volts (eV). When construction is complete near the end of the year, the Pierre Auger Observatory will extend over 3,000 square kilometers (~1,000 square miles) in Argentina's Mendoza Province, just east of the Andes Mountains. The full observatory will consist of an array of 1,600 detectors that record the arrival of air showers on the ground. Information gathered by the detectors is transmitted to a central data acquisition system using solar-powered cellular phone technology. Surrounding the detector array and looking toward its center is a set of 24 telescopes that-on clear moonless nights-observe the ultraviolet fluorescence light produced as shower particles travel through the atmosphere. The Pierre Auger collaboration includes more than 370 scientists and engineers from 60 institutions in 17 countries, which share the construction cost of approximately $50 million (US). The international funding agencies contributing to the Pierre Auger Observatory as well as the participating institutions are listed below. Notes for editors:Fermilab, which hosts the project management office for the Pierre Auger Observatory, is a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science national laboratory, operated under contract by Fermi Research Alliance, LLC. Auger Observatory funding agencies (by country):ALFA-ECUNESCO Argentina Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica La Provincia de Mendoza Australia The Australian Research Council Brazil Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos do Ministerio da Ciencia e Tecnologia (FINEP / MCT) Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ) Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) Czech Republic Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic France Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Conseil Régional Ile-de-France Département Physique Nucléaire et Corpusculaire (PNC-IN2P3/CNRS) Département Sciences de l'Univers (SDU-INSU/CNRS) Germany Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) Finanzministerium Baden-Württemberg Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft Deutscher Forschungszentren (HGF) Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Forschung, Nordrhein Westfalen Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst, Baden-Württemberg Italy Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Università e della Ricerca (MIUR) Mexico Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT) Netherlands Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO) Stichting voor Fundamenteel Onderzoek der Materie (FOM) Poland Ministry of Science and Higher Education Portugal Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia Slovenia Ministry for Higher Education, Science, and Technology Slovenian Research Agency Spain Comunidad de Madrid Consejería de Educacíon de la Comunidad de Castilla La Mancha FEDER funds Ministerio de Educacíon y Ciencia Xunta de Galicia United Kingdom Science and Technology Facilities Council United States Department of Energy National Science Foundation The Grainger Foundation Auger Observatory collaborating institutions (by country):ArgentinaCentro Atómico Bariloche (CNEA); Instituto Balseiro (CNEA & UNCuyo); CONICET Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio (CONICET) Laboratorio Tandar (CNEA); CONICET; Univ. Tec. Nac. (Reg. Buenos Aires) Pierre Auger Southern Observatory Universidad Nacional de la Plata; IFLP/CONICET; Univ. Nac. de Buenos Aires Universidad Tecnológica Nacional - Regionales Mendoza y San Rafael Australia University of Adelaide Bolivia Universidad Catolica de Bolivia Universidad Mayor de San Andrés Brazil Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Fisicas (CBPF) Universidade de Sao Paulo, Inst. de Fisica Universidade de Sao Paulo, Instituto Astronomico e Geofisico Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP) Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana (UEFS) Universidade Estadual do Sudoeste da Bahia (UESB) Universidade Federal da Bahia Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) Universidade Federal Fluminense Czech Republic Charles University Prague, Institute of Particle and Nuclear Physics Institute of Physics (FZU) of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic France Institut de Physique Nucléaire, Orsay (IPNO) Laboratoire AstroParticule et Cosmologie Université Paris VII Laboratoire de l'Accélérateur Linéaire (LAL), Orsay Laboratoire de Physique Nucléaire et de Hautes Energies (LPNHE), Université Paris 6 Laboratoire de Physique Subatomique et de Cosmologie (LPSC) - Grenoble Germany Bergische Universität Wuppertal Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe - Institut für Kernphysik Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe - Institut für Prozessdatenverarbeitung und Elektronik Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie and Universität Bonn Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule (RWTH) Aachen Universität Karlsruhe (TH) - Institut für Experimentelle Kernphysik (IEKP) Universität Siegen Italy Dipartimento di Fisica dell'Università and INFN, L'Aquila Dipartimento di Fisica dell'Università and Sezione INFN, Lecce Dipartimento di Fisica dell'Università and Sezione INFN, Milano Dipartimento di Fisica dell'Università and Sezione INFN, Napoli Dipartimento di Fisica dell'Università di Roma "Tor Vergata" and Sezione INFN Roma II Dipartimento di Fisica Sperimentale dell'Università and Sezione INFN, Torino Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario (INAF), Dipartimento di Fisica Generale dell'Università Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, INFN Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri Sezione INFN di Catania & Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia dell'Università, Catania Mexico Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla (BUAP) Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del IPN (CINVESTAV) Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Netherlands Institute for Mathematics, Astrophysics and Particle Physics (IMAPP), Radboud Universiteit Kernfysisch Versneller Instituut (KVI), Rijksuniversiteit Groningen Nationaal Instituut voor Kernfysica en Hoge Energie Fysica (NIKHEF) Stichting Astronomisch Onderzoek in Nederland (ASTRON), Dwingeloo Poland The Henryk Niewodniczanski Institute of Nuclear Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences University of Łódź Portugal Laboratory of Instrumentation and Experimental Particle Physics (LIP) Slovenia University of Nova Gorica Spain Universidad Complutense de Madrid Universidad de Alcalá de Henares Universidad de Santiago de Compostela University of Granada United Kingdom Oxford University University of Leeds, Institute of Integrated Information Systems University of Leeds, School of Physics & Astronomy United States Argonne National Laboratory Case Western Reserve University Colorado State University Columbia University Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory Louisiana State University Michigan Technological University Northeastern University Ohio State University Pennsylvania State University Southern University University of California, Los Angeles University of Chicago University of Colorado University of Minnesota University of Nebraska University of New Mexico University of Utah University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Vietnam Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology of Hanoi (INST) -30- |
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