A joint Fermilab/SLAC publication

Numbers: Pierre Auger Observatory

By David Harris

In November, the Pierre Auger Observatory outside Malargüe, Argentina, celebrates its scientific launch. The observatory will record high-energy cosmic-ray showers with ground-based water tank detectors and air-shower cameras.

Numbers: Pierre Auger Observatory
In November, the Pierre Auger Observatory outside Malargüe, Argentina, celebrates its scientific launch. The observatory will record high-energy cosmic-ray showers with ground-based water tank detectors and air-shower cameras. 

detector area
meters above sea level
tanks air observation cameras
photomultiplier tubes
Photos: Pierre Auger Observatory

 

3000

   

  Detector area in square kilometers

 

 a

30

 

  Number of times Paris would fit  
  within detector area

 

  

1400

 

  Meters above sea level

 

 b

739 

 

  Current number of water tanks

 

  

1600

 

  Eventual number of tanks

 

 c

11,000

 

  Liters of water per tank

 

  

1500

 

  Meters between water tanks

 

  

20

 

  Years of expected lifetime for tanks

 

  

3

 

  Current air observation cameras

 

 d

440

 

  Photomultiplier tubes per camera

 

 e

1500

 

  Events per day recorded

 

  

140

 

  Highest energy of a recorded event
  in EeV (exa-electronvolts = 1018eV)

 

  

100

 

  Speed in miles/hour of tennis ball
  with equivalent energy

 

  

15

 

  Countries participating

 

  

1938

 

  Year Pierre Auger discovered
  cosmic ray showers

 

  

20,000

 

  Population of Malargüe

 

  

927

 

  Argentina's average human
  population per detector area

 

  
81   Argentina's average llama
  population per detector area

 

David Harris

Click here to download the pdf version of this article.

popular on symmetry

Illustration representing properties of light
06/29/21

What is a photon?

The fundamental particle of light is both ordinary and full of surprises.

The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument imaging the night sky in 2022
11/20/24

New DESI results weigh in on gravity

Researchers used the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument to map how nearly 6 million galaxies cluster across 11 billion years of cosmic history. 

more on topic
08/01/07

Particle search on a shoestring

When Aaron Chou heard about an experiment in Italy that suggested the existence of an exotic particle as a candidate for dark matter, he was intrigued enough to go looking for it.

05/01/07

Those pesky humans

Lead bricks and radiation gloves normally indicate a need to protect lab workers from radioactivity. For a laboratory at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, however, the opposite is true.

02/01/06

GLAST into space

Particle physics detectors in space will record gamma rays in search of dark matter, the evolution of stars, and nature’s most powerful particle accelerators.

09/01/05

Science: A richer experience of life

Michael Salamon brings an outward vision to Office of Science and Technology Policy. He says Walt Whitman got it wrong: the more one learns about nature, the more beautiful it becomes.

04/01/05

What's in the box?

In January 2000, Tom Jordan had just finished up a conference in San Diego, where he had presented one of the new cosmic ray detectors to QuarkNet teachers.

View full archive