17:34 - 27.08.2025

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August 27, Fineko/abc.az. The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (Juno) — the world’s largest detector for elusive neutrinos, also known as “ghost particles” — began operation yesterday in Guangdong Province, southern China.

According to ABC.AZ, citing the South China Morning Post, the massive facility has started tracking these mysterious particles, which have no electric charge, extremely small mass, and move at near-light speeds.

The Institute of High Energy Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences reported that Juno has successfully filled its liquid scintillator detector weighing 20,000 tons — a giant acrylic sphere with a diameter of 35 meters. The detector is located at the center of a 44-meter-deep water pool, situated 700 meters underground.

It is designed to measure the mass of different types of neutrinos generated by the Taishan and Yangjiang nuclear power plants. Juno is expected to operate for up to 30 years. The institute aims to test whether neutrinos are Majorana particles — meaning they are their own antiparticles — and to address questions in particle physics, astrophysics, and cosmology, potentially reshaping our understanding of the universe. More than 700 researchers from 74 institutions in 17 countries and regions took part in the project.