The AMANDA South Pole neutrino telescope: first light

We will discuss the performance of natural Antarctic ice between 1 and 2 kilometer depths as a particle detector. We will present a preliminary analysis of the first year of data from a neutrino telescope which uses large volumes of ultra-transparent South Pole ice as a low-noise particle detector, sensing the Cherenkov light from neutrino-induced muons and electrons. This instrument is monitoring the sky for neutrinos from supernovae and gamma ray bursts. We are already performing a first search for neutrino emission from the most energetic cosmic processes involving pulsars, black holes, active galactic nuclei and the like. The detector also has unique capabilities in searching for neutrino mass and dark matter. We will argue however that a high energy neutrino telescope should ultimately have an effective volume of order 1 kilometer cube and will present AMANDA's ongoing and future expansion.