Cherenkov radiation

Observatory2 located in Namibia uses five large telescopes to capture and record the faint Cherenkov radiation produced by the heavily charged particles and photons that enter the Earth's atmosphere, producing a shower of particles in their wake.

In this translucent medium, the sensors pick up tiny flashes of so-called Cherenkov radiation that forms when a vanishingly rare neutrino hits the ice and creates a shower of secondary particles.

These faster-than-light events manifest as bright flashes of blue light called Cherenkov radiation.

The shrapnel includes mysterious particles called muons that can be seen as faint blue flashes known as Cherenkov radiation in the observatory’s dark water.

Yet when a neutrino, exceedingly rarely, hits an atomic nucleus in the water, it produces a cone of blue light called Cherenkov radiation.