KM3NeT - Neutrino Observatory under sea

KM3NeT is a future deep-sea research infrastructure hosting a neutrino telescope with a vclume of several cubic kilmetres, to be constructed in the Mediterranean Sea. In Februray 2006, the Design Study for the infrastructure, funded by the EU FP6 framework, started. The KM3NeT research infrastructure has been singled out by ESFRI (the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures) to be included in the European Roadmap for Research Infrastructures. The Preparatory Phase of the infrastructure, funded by the EU FP7 framework, started in March 2008.
Over the past decade the three pilot projects ANTARES, NEMO and NESTOR have been exploring the technologies, building and deploying smaller scale prototype telescopes designed to operate at depths ranging from 2500 to 4500 m. Since May 30th, 2008 the construction of the Antares telescope has been finished. Antares is now the largest neutrino telescope at the Northern hemispere.
The design, construction and operation of the KM3NeT neutrino telescope will be pursued by a consortium formed around the institutes currently involved in the ANTARES, NESTOR and NEMO pilot projects. Based on the leading expertise of these research groups, the development of the KM3NeT telescope is envisaged to be achieved within a period of about four years for preparatory R&D work, plus four years for construction and deployment.
The Mediterranean Sea appears to be an ideal place for this future installation: it provides water of excellent optical properties at the right depth and excellent shore-based infrastructure for marine operations and on-shore data processing.
With an angular resolution for muon events of better than 0.1 degree for neutrino energies exceeding 10 TeV, an energy threshold of a few 100 GeV and a sensitivity to neutrinos of all flavours and to neutral-current reactions, the KM3NeT neutrino telescope will be unique in the world in its physics sensitivity and will provide access to scientific data that will propel research in different fields, including astronomy, dark matter searches, cosmic ray and high energy physics.

Cosmological composition of Universe

Hubble Spies a Spiral Galaxy Edge-on

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has spotted the "UFO Galaxy." NGC 2683 is a spiral galaxy seen almost edge-on, giving it the shape of a classic science fiction spaceship. This is why the astronomers at the Astronaut Memorial Planetarium and Observatory, Cocoa, Fla., gave it this attention-grabbing nickname.

While a bird's eye view lets us see the detailed structure of a galaxy (such as this Hubble image of a barred spiral), a side-on view has its own perks. In particular, it gives astronomers a great opportunity to see the delicate dusty lanes of the spiral arms silhouetted against the golden haze of the galaxy’s core. In addition, brilliant clusters of young blue stars shine scattered throughout the disc, mapping the galaxy’s star-forming regions.

Perhaps surprisingly, side-on views of galaxies like this one do not prevent astronomers from deducing their structures. Studies of the properties of the light coming from NGC 2683 suggest that this is a barred spiral galaxy, even though the angle we see it at does not let us see this directly.

This image is produced from two adjacent fields observed in visible and infrared light by Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys. A narrow strip which appears slightly blurred and crosses most the image horizontally is a result of a gap between Hubble’s detectors. This strip has been patched using images from observations of the galaxy made by ground-based telescopes, which show significantly less detail. The field of view is approximately 6.5 by 3.3 arc minutes.