The Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO) is a

gamma-ray A gamma ray, also known as gamma radiation (symbol γ or \gamma), is a penetrating form of electromagnetic radiation arising from the radioactive decay of atomic nucleus, atomic nuclei. It consists of the shortest wavelength electromagnetic wav ...

and

cosmic-ray observatory A cosmic-ray observatory is a scientific installation built to detect high-energy-particles coming from space called cosmic rays. This typically includes photons (high-energy light), electrons, protons, and some heavier nuclei, as well as antimatt ...

Daocheng Daocheng County or Dapba in Tibetan (; ), historically Daoba (), is a county of western Sichuan Province, China, located in the eastern Hengduan Mountains. It is under the administration of the Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture with an overwhe ...

, in the

Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, often shortened to Ganzi Prefecture, is an autonomous prefecture in the western arm of Sichuan province, China, bordering Yunnan to the south, the Tibet Autonomous Region to the west, and Gansu to the nor ...

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

, China. It is designed to observe air showers triggered by

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and

cosmic rays Cosmic rays are high-energy particles or clusters of particles (primarily represented by protons or atomic nuclei) that move through space at nearly the speed of light. They originate from the Sun, from outside of the Solar System in our own ...

. The observatory is at an altitude of above sea level. Observations started in April 2019. The observatory covers an area of some . It has three underground observing pools, each “more than triple the size of the

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(National Aquatic Center) in

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”. One of the pools is designed to contain of water. The pools will contain 12 telescopes to capture high-energy photons. Cherenkov radiation detectors are used. Research teams from

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and

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will participate in the project directly, with others expressing interest.Chinese scientists' pursuit of cosmic rays opens windows on universe
paceDaily.com 2019-10-24 The observatory works essentially as the CASA-MIA observatory did but with a bigger surface array, better muon detectors, improved designed layout and at higher altitude.

Scientific results

On 17 May, 2021, LHAASO Discovers a Dozen PeVatrons and Photons Exceeding 1 PeV including one at 1.4 PeV.

References

Cosmic-ray telescopes Astronomical observatories in China {{China-stub

Scientific results

See also

References