A nebulous void in Egypt’s Great Pyramid of Giza has been revealed thanks to strange subatomic particles called muons.
Scientists first identified vacuum in 2016 using muons, heavy relatives of electrons that can penetrate through solid materials. Believed to be a hallway-shaped hole, the void was located near a chevron-shaped structure visible on the north face of the pyramid. Other muon measurements revealed new details on the size and shape of the vacuumscientists from the ScanPyramids team report on March 2 at Nature Communication.
The new muon measurements indicate that the void is a 9-meter-long, about 2-meter-wide by 2-meter-high corridor near the north face of the pyramid. ScanPyramids researchers performed additional measurements with ground penetrating radar and ultrasonic testingthey reported on March 2 to CND&E International. The detailed measurements allowed scientists to use an endoscope to take images inside the chamber, the team said. The images reveal a hallway with a vaulted ceiling, likely one that hasn’t been seen by humans since the pyramid was built over 4,500 years ago. The purpose of the corridor is not yet clear.
Muons are created when high-energy particles from space called cosmic rays crash into the Earth’s atmosphere. Muons are partially absorbed when they rain down on structures such as pyramids. Using detectors placed inside the pyramid, ScanPyramids scientists focused on regions where more muons passed through, indicating they had passed through less material, allowing them to map the location of the vacuum.
Scientists have also recently used muons to probe a ancient chinese wall (SN: 01/30/23), A nuclear reactor And various volcanoes (SN: 04/22/22).