Image credit: Pierre Auger Observatory.
More than 200 guests and 100 collaboration members celebrated the inauguration of the Pierre Auger Observatory at its southern site in Malargüe, Argentina, on 14 November. The event marked the completion of the first phase of the observatory construction and the beginning of the project’s second phase, which includes plans for a northern-hemisphere site in Colorado, US. Also planned are several enhancements to the southern-hemisphere site.
The Pierre Auger Collaboration began construction of its Southern Observatory in 2000. This consists of an array of 1600 detectors spread over 3000 km2 in Argentina’s Mendoza Province. Surrounding the array is a set of 24 fluorescence telescopes that view the faint ultraviolet light emitted by the cosmic-ray shower particles as they cascade through the atmosphere. More than 40 funding agencies are contributing to the observatory, which cost approximately $53 million to construct.
Guests at the inauguration ceremony included Julio Cobos, the vice-president of Argentina, Celso Jaque, the governor of Mendoza, several ambassadors, many high-level officials from funding agencies, the directors of CERN and Fermilab, and research officers from universities associated with the project. In addition to a symposium, guests enjoyed a dusty two-hour ride across the Pampa Amarilla to inspect some of the 1600 particle detectors.
