The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics, awarded to Francis Halzen, recognises the discovery of high-energy neutrinos of astrophysical origin. These neutrinos reach petaelectronvolt (1015 eV) energies. They were first detected by IceCube in 2013 as a diffuse flux across the sky. Since neutrinos are neither deflected by magnetic fields nor absorbed on their way to Earth, they point straight back to extreme cosmic-ray accelerators in the Universe. Yet, because such events are rare, only a few candidate sources have been identified so far. Identifying these sources requires larger exposure and a complementary view of the sky. Building on the success of IceCube, a new generation of neutrino telescopes is therefore under construction in deep water. The Pacific Ocean Neutrino Experiment (P-ONE) will instrument the north-east Pacific at a depth of about 2.6 km off the coast of Canada, detecting Cherenkov light from neutrino interactions in seawater. In this seminar I will introduce neutrino astronomy, discuss the challenges of operating a neutrino telescope in the deep sea, and present the current status of P-ONE. I will close with the contribution of our group at IFJ PAN in preparing P-ONE for its first data.
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