IceCube Neutrino Observatory

A view of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, which is buried at depths between 1.5 and 2.5 kilometers below the Antarctic ice, at the South Pole. The only visible equipment above the surface is the IceCube Lab, which hosts the computers that collect data from the over 5,000 light sensors in the ice.

In this artistic rendering, an image of the sensors based on measurements of the neutrino event IceCube-170922A, recorded on 22 September 2017, is shown underneath the laboratory. On this occasion, IceCube detected a neutrino while at the same time gamma rays were detected by other telescopes on Earth and in space; the observations revealed that both ‘cosmic messenger’ have their origin in a blazar, a type of active galaxy with one of its jets pointing toward Earth.

ESA's INTEGRAL gamma-ray observatory was part of the international collaboration that observed this source. While it did not record any prompt burst of gamma rays from this blazar nor observed it to be in a flaring state, this non-detection provided important information to help constrain the properties of the source.