Russia will launch the largest Cherenkov telescope in the world

Russian researchers will be launched on 18 September a Cherenkov telescope to study cosmic rays, the largest in the world, announced today Búdnev Nikolai, director of the Institute of Applied Physics of Irkutsk.

"Cosmic rays are atomic particles that emerged in the universe and accelerated to high energy levels. They were discovered in 1912 but his study was made possible with the advent of modern electronic technologies today," said Búdnev.
A detector of high energy gamma rays is known under the name of Cherenkov telescope, named after Soviet physicist who won the Nobel Prize in 1958 for his study of this type of radiation, will be installed in the valley of Tunka located in Buryatia, in southeastern Russia.

Assessed around a million dollars, this device consists of 200 photomultiplier tubes located in an area of nearly one thousand square meters, a permanent power source, a light emitting diode (LED) and a cover that should protect against rain.

The project is funded by the Russian state and is run by two state universities, the Moscow and Irkutsk, although the photomultipliers and electronic equipment were imported, respectively, Germany and Italy.
Prior to the launch of the telescope, will be held in Irkutsk, an international conference on cosmic ray physics and high energy astrophysics.