Astroteq.ai Places Muon Detector Under Kraków's Wawel Hill

How muography works

The method, known as muon radiography or muography, resembles an X-ray on a macro scale. Muons are elementary particles produced when cosmic radiation collides with atoms in Earth's atmosphere. They travel at close to the speed of light and pass through hundreds of metres of rock, but lose energy depending on the density of the material.

Solid limestone absorbs and scatters more muons, so fewer reach the detector. A void, forgotten corridor or crypt offers less resistance, and the detector registers a denser stream of particles from that direction. The device in the Dragon's Den is passive: it collects data for weeks, counting individual trajectories and gradually building a three-dimensional density profile of the hill.

From earthquake prediction to heritage

Astroteq.ai normally develops earthquake prediction systems based on anomalies in cosmic-ray flux, a concept studied within the international CREDO consortium (Cosmic Ray Extremely Distributed Observatory), initiated by the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Kraków. At Wawel, the same expertise in building sensitive, rugged detectors was adapted to a cold, damp and hard-to-reach cave.

The approach is already established elsewhere. In 2017 the ScanPyramids team used it to find the Great Void in Khufu's pyramid in Giza, a space at least 30 metres long. Similar detectors monitor volcanoes such as Vesuvius and Etna and check the stability of disused mines and railway tunnels across Europe.

Results will take time. Cosmic particles arrive at a steady but limited rate, so a high-resolution image needs months of exposure. The data will then go to reconstruction algorithms that filter out background noise and generate a density model of the hill. If significant anomalies appear where existing architectural plans show solid rock, conservators and archaeologists will receive precise coordinates for targeted follow-up investigation.