This year started with an interesting news: Pierre Auger Masterclasses are now in the program of our International Masterclasses.x

The Pierre Auger Observatory is located in western Argentina
Its goal is to study the highest energy particles in the Universe (cosmic rays), which strike the Earth from all directions.
The Pierre Auger Observatory is the largest observatory in the world for the study of very high energy cosmic rays (E>1018 eV). The observatory, named after the French physicist Pierre Victor Auger and it started collecting data in 2004. The observatory was definitively completed in 2008.

The observatory consists of two distinct detectors: a surface detector (SD) and a fluorescence detector (FD) which operate in synergy. The observatory is therefore hybrid and the ability to observe the same event in two different ways allows to reduce the systematic errors associated with the individual detectors.
Cosmic rays with low to moderate energies are well known and understood unlike those with extremely high energies which remain mysterious even to science. By detecting and studying these rare particles, the Pierre Auger Observatory is tackling the mysteries of their origin and existence.

 

The Pierre Auger Masterclass will start on 18th March 2023 and they will be held on three different days (in Europe): 18 and 24 March and 4 April 2023.

The masterclass takes place during a whole day. In the morning, after a short presentation, the students will be introduced to the explanation of particle and astroparticle physics and an explaination of the experiments in astroparticle physics. After lunch, kids will finally be able to get their hands on data and start the data analysis. At the end of the day, there will be a video conference with the Pierre Auger Observatory.

To find out more about the Pierre Auger Masterclasses: https://augermasterclasses.lip.pt/