More than 110 years after the first experiment was carried out on Lake Bracciano, new measurements were carried out to detect cosmic rays.
Last May, the Military Aeronautical Historical and Sports Center (CSSAM) in Vigna di Valle (RM) hosted a group of students from the “Ignazio Vian” Scientific High School in Bracciano, engaged in activities to detect and measure cosmic rays. Students and teachers were welcomed at the CSSAM facilities, where the activity was made possible thanks to the now well-established collaboration between the High School and the Military Aeronautical Department.
The choice of the place was not accidental: in 1911, right on the banks of Lake Bracciano, the physicist Domenico Pacini carried out experiments to demonstrate the existence of cosmic rays, that is, rays coming from outer space. Pacini, under the supervision of the first Director of the Center, Captain meteorologist Attilio Cristoforo Ferrari, and supported by the staff of the Experimental Aeronautical Workshop and the Royal Aerological Station of Vigna di Valle, with the instrumentation at his disposal, managed to demonstrate the existence of these rays and to measure their degree of propagation in the waters. The results of this activity, a point of reference for future similar measurements, were collected in a report that was then published in the important scientific journal of the Italian Society of Physics. The New Testimonies.
In 2020, 110 years after the first measurements, the “Ignazio Vian” Scientific High School and the CSSAM of the Air Force shared the idea of repeating Pacini’s experiments: starting from the participation of the High School in the International Cosmic Day, the launch of the PARTICLE Project (Pacini Ray Experiment in Bracciano Lake) was achieved – an activity of the PCTO (Courses for Cross-curricular Competencies and Orientation) in agreement with the’INFN (National Institute of Nuclear Physics) in Rome that took inspiration from the project OCRA (Outreach Cosmic Ray Activities).
Having reached its third edition, this year the collaboration between the “Vian” High School and the CSSAM consisted of providing the technical support and specialized personnel of the Aquatic Sports Section of the AM Sports Center, to allow the students and their teachers to reach the place where the measurements were to be taken – about 350 meters from the shore – and the immersion of the measuring instrument, namely a plastic scintillator connected to an “Arduino” board designed specifically at the INFN in Rome and known as ArduSiPM, At the exact depth of 10 meters. As a testament to the strong and fruitful collaboration with the school institution, the Military Air Force Historical and Sports Center has already offered its assistance once the renovation work on the AM Historical Museum, initiated in anticipation of the Centenary of the Armed Forces, which will officially take place on March 28, 2023, has been completed. The Center will host the official presentation of the results of the studies conducted to date.
The ancient airship base “Luigi Bourlot” in Vigna di Valle is where the aviation activity in Italy began: starting in 1908, the first military airships took off from here, followed by the hydroplanes. In the following years, the base was refurbished and transformed into a Sports Center and a Center for Collecting Historical Aircraft, which in 1977 officially became the Historical Museum. Today the CSSAM of Vigna di Valle is made up of two important Armed Forces units: the Sports Centre A.M., which contributes to the protection of the national sports heritage through a careful search for the best talent and contributing to the technical and theoretical development of sports dynamics and It Museum of History of the Air Force, which has the task of disseminating aeronautical culture, history and traditions of the Armed Forces. Currently, the Museum is closed for renovation and expansion works. The reopening is scheduled for 2023, as part of the celebrations for the Centenary of the establishment of the Air Force. The CSSAM also provides logistical support to SICRAL (Sistema Italiano per Comunicazioni Riservate e ALlarmi) an important joint-forces telecommunication centre, and to the C.T.M. – Technical Centre for Meteorology and collaborates with all local and territorial entities that are active in serving the citizens.
