The CERN Neutrinos to Gran Sasso project aimed to unlock some of the mysteries surrounding neutrinos - light, neutral particles that barely interact with matter.
From July 2006 to December 2012, the CNGS project sent muonic neutrinos from CERN to the Gran Sasso National Laboratory, 732 kilometers away in Italy, in 2.5 milliseconds, almost at the speed of light.
Neutrinos are continuously produced in nuclear reactions within stars, and are the most abundant particles in the Universe after photons. Our planet is constantly crossed by their flow: every second, 60 billion neutrinos cross a space the size of a finger. They interact so weakly with other particles that they can pass through any form of matter without leaving a trace.