Neutrinos (blue sky map) in front of an artist’s impression of the Milky Way.
Experience IceCube in the immersive new documentary "Messengers." Credit: Director Jeffrey Zablotny and Trapdoor
The U.S. National Science Foundation renews NSF IceCube operation and maintenance contract
Last month, the U.S. National Science Foundation renewed a cooperative agreement with the University of Wisconsin–Madison to manage and operate the NSF IceCube Neutrino Observatory. The five-year, $53 million cooperative agreement entails the continued operation and maintenance of IceCube for the period 2026-2031. “The generous funding will allow us to…
Search for neutrino emission from tidal disruption events
Ever since high-energy astrophysical neutrinos were first observed in 2013, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole has continued searching for their elusive sources. Thus far, IceCube has identified two galaxies as neutrino sources and observed neutrinos from our own Milky Way galaxy. Astrophysical phenomena that are transient—occurring temporarily—in…
Week 35 at the Pole
The South Pole sky is starting to show a little color. The sun hasn’t risen yet, but that’s a slow process at the Pole. The three periods of twilight linger for weeks there, with light creeping up over the horizon gradually. Speaking of color, the photo below trumps the horizon…
🥇🚨 Gold alert - IceCube observation of a high-energy neutrino candidate event at 2026/08/27 15:35:36 UTC. Find out more at: https://gcn.nasa.gov/circulars/45455.
#IceCubeAlert
Real-Time Alerts
IceCube is a unique telescope that offers an uninterrupted view of almost the full sky and is capable of detecting neutrinos at the highest energies while still being sensitive to much lower energy neutrinos. The dynamic range of the instrument is from GeV to hundreds of TeV and above, with the observation of cosmic neutrinos at energies approaching 10 PeV. Detection of MeV neutrinos is possible provided they are produced in bursts, as is the case for a Galactic supernova explosion.
IceCube real-time alerts trigger on a series of neutrino signatures with a high chance of identifying a neutrino of astrophysical origin, thus pointing to interesting regions of the sky, and notify the international community when an interesting cosmic phenomenon could be observed.
Outreach for people of all ages
IceCube has a long history of outreach activities that range from small group presentations to large collaborative art-science installations. Capitalizing on the appeal of the South Pole detector and building upon established collaborations, IceCube continues to find new ways to introduce IceCube science to an ever broader audience.
