Neutrino
IceCube-261020A
IceCube caught a high-energy neutrino of about 116 TeV, located to within 34 arcminutes. The chance it came from space is 38%.
This line is written from the event's own fields, not translated from the source.
Each field explained
- Status
- Preliminary
An automatic notice sent within seconds to minutes. Later notices can refine its position, and astronomers' circulars follow.
- Significance
- Normal significance
Not on WarpLab's instant-alert list: a real notice, but rougher or less certain than the ones that are.
- Seen by
- IceCube
The telescope or detector that sent the notice, through NASA's General Coordinates Network (GCN).
- Position on the sky
- RA 224.12°, Dec 20.62°, within 34 arcminutes
Where on the sky it came from, and the radius of the circle it most likely lies in. The smaller the circle, the easier it is for telescopes to find it.
- Neutrino energy
- About 116 TeV
The most likely energy of the neutrino that made the track. One TeV is about 500 billion times the energy of a photon of visible light.
- From space
- 38%
The chance the neutrino came from space, not from cosmic rays hitting the atmosphere. IceCube calls a track Gold when that chance is about 50% or more on average, Bronze when it is about 30%.
- False alarm rate
- About once every 170 days
How often noise alone would make a signal at least this strong. The rarer, the more likely it is real.
- When
When the instrument triggered, in UTC.
- Latest notice
- IceCube Bronze track · Update
Each notice replaces the numbers of the one before it. Fermi GBM sends a rough position from the spacecraft within seconds, a better one from the ground within minutes, and a final one later.