China starts to construct large high altitude air shower observatory

Located 4,410 meters above sea level in the Haizi mountains of Daocheng City, southwestern Sichuan Province, China’s large high altitude air shower observatory (LHASSO) is now in full-scale construction.

As ultra-high-energy gamma rays can reveal the source of cosmic rays, the observation and research is of great importance to help mankind better understand the physics of cosmic rays and space.

Tasked with the observation of ultra-high-energy gamma rays and research on the evolution of the universe as well as high energy celestial bodies, LHASSO was approved by the National Development and Reform Commission on 2015 and is scheduled to be put into operation by 2020. Once completed, LHAASO will become a comprehensive international scientific research center for cosmic ray study, along with the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica and the Pierre Auger Observatory in Argentina.

The new facility will consist of four types of detectors, said CAO Zhen, LHASSO’s chief scientist and researcher from the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He explained that the observatory plans to have a surface water detector to catch air showers induced by high energy photons, an array of scintillation detectors for electrons and photons in the showers, a series of underground water tanks aimed for muon detection, and 12 wide field-of-view air telescopes.

In the future, LHASSO is expected to take China onto the next level of space physics’ research and help mankind better understand the nature and evolution of cosmic rays.

(CGTN)