Dutch Ambassador Verhijden visits Pierre Auger Observatory

On 19 November Ambassador of the Netherlands in Argentina Mr Mauritz Verhijden visited the Pierre Auger Observatory. The Pierre Auger Observatory is the largest observatory for the investigation of the properties of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays, called atomic nuclei hitting the Earth from outer space. Radboud University professor Jörg Hörandel guided Mr. Verhijden around the observatory to see the recent upgrade of the observatory. Jörg Hörandel leads the Radboud University and Radboud Radio Lab team which played a crucial role in the development and installation of the Radio Detector at the Observatory. 1660 such units are installed in an area covering 3000 km2 in the Pampa Amarilla region. The addition of the Radio Detector significantly increases the scientific performance of the Observatory. With the data collected in the upcoming years, the scientists expect to get new insights into the origin of the highest-energy particles in the universe.