NESTOR Project

The NESTOR Project (Neutrino Extended Submarine Telescope with Oceanographic Research Project) is an international scientific collaboration whose target is the deployment of a neutrino telescope on the sea floor off Pylos, Greece.

Neutrino

Neutrinos are elementary particles first detected in the 1950s, long after their theoretical prediction by theorist Wolfgang Pauli. Neutrinos (or anti-neutrinos) are created during certain nuclear reactions, where protons are transformed into neutrons and vice versa. Neutrinos do not interact with matter via either the electromagnetic, the strong nuclear, or gravitational forces, since they are electrically neutral leptons and their rest mass is very small. They interact with the nucleons (neutrons and protons) only via weak nuclear interactions. Since they do not interact with matter via the electromagnetic or gravitational forces, it is extremely difficult to detect them. Since their mass is very small (less than 14 eV) they travel with speeds that are very close to the speed of light in vacuum.