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Scientists want to use cosmic rays to reveal the secrets inside the Giza pyramid

2022-05-04T13:13:38.214Z


A group of researchers wants to develop a high-powered telescope to detect the incidence of cosmic rays in rocks and to register the construction gaps in the building.


By Denise

Chow

A new attempt to scan the Great Pyramid of Giza using energetic particles from space could help scientists peer inside the ancient structure and gain new details about its mysterious interior chambers.

The Great Pyramid is the largest pyramid in Giza, with a height of 455 feet, and

the only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World that remains standing

.

Researchers working on the Great Pyramid Exploration Mission are raising funds to develop a high-powered telescope that can map its internal makeup from all angles.

[They discover an archaeological treasure in a pyramid with keys to the Mayan calendar]

The device would have "more than 100 times the sensitivity" of equipment that has previously been used to study the archaeological site, explained project leader Alan Bross, a scientist at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, a government facility in Batavia. Illinois.

The telescope would scan the pyramid with cosmic ray muons

, high-energy particles that are created when cosmic rays from outer space rain down and collide with atoms in Earth's atmosphere.

"It's natural radiation," explains Bross.

“Muons from cosmic rays hit the surface of the planet all the time.

Now they go through us, ”he pointed out.

Scientists want to use cosmic rays to map the secrets of the Great Pyramid of Giza. Sui Xiankai / Xinhua News Agency via Getty Ima

The proposed explorations are detailed in a study published March 6 in the Journal for Advanced Instrumentation in Science.

Cosmic ray muons can pass through solid objects more efficiently than X-rays, allowing scientists to peer inside structures that are normally impenetrable.

[Mysterious Stone Structures Discovered in the Arabian Desert Older Than Stonehenge or the Egyptian Pyramids]

As the muons pass through the pyramid, the high-energy particles interact with different materials - granite or limestone, for example, or air in an open cavity - deflecting their energy and light in measurable ways.

Researchers can use the measurements to create detailed maps of its interior.

The Great Pyramid of Giza is believed to have been built at the request of Pharaoh Khufu, who reigned during the 26th century BC.

Physicist Luis Álvarez first explored the idea of ​​probing the pyramid using cosmic rays in the late 1960s.

Álvarez and his team scanned about 19% of the pyramid over two years

, but found no previously undetected chambers inside. of the iconic structure, according to the American Physical Society.

The muon technique was used again in 2017 as part of a separate project called ScanPyramids, which produced one of the most significant discoveries at the site in recent years: the existence of a large hidden void above a known corridor called the Great Gallery.

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The puzzling feature, dubbed the Great Void, is about 20 feet tall and nearly 100 feet long, and its purpose remains unknown.

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The Great Pyramid Exploration Mission is designed to build on the ScanPyramids findings, using a larger, more advanced telescope that can detect trillions of incoming cosmic ray muons to produce higher resolution images from multiple vantage points.

The resulting scans could reveal what the sprawling chamber was once used for, including what, if any, objects are inside it.

“If the Big Void was a staging area or some kind of construction site and there was debris left there, we would see it,” Bross explained.

In addition to the Grand Gallery, archaeologists previously found the king's chamber, roughly in the center of the pyramid, and a smaller queen's chamber nearby.

But many other details of the internal structure of the pyramid are not well understood.

[66-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Embryo Discovered Preserved in Its Egg Reveals Kinship to Birds]

The new muon detectors would be built inside up to eight standard shipping containers, each measuring 40 feet long, 10 feet tall and 10 feet wide, according to the researchers.

The telescope system would be placed at different points around the base of the pyramid

, collecting observations at each position for three months at a time.

Bross estimates that it would take three years to accumulate enough data to create a high-resolution map of the entire pyramid.

The team has secured funding from the Big Ideas Generator, a University of Chicago grant program, and the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory to perform the first proof-of-concept computer simulations.

However, building the detectors and conducting the scans would cost between $5 million and $10 million.

Once the telescope system exists, it could be used for other archaeological expeditions.

"One idea would be to take it to the Valley of the Kings [in Egypt] and look for density variations in the mountains, which could be indicative of undiscovered tombs," Bross suggested.

Source: telemundo

All news articles on 2022-05-04

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