Talk given at the NPNAP2008 Meeting.

Title of the Talk:

 The ANTARES underwater neutrino telescope: a status report.

 Abstract:

The ANTARES neutrino telescope is the first deep-sea neutrino telescope and
the largest one in the Northern hemisphere. It  is installed at a depth of 2500 m
in the Mediterranean sea, about 40 km off the cost of Toulon. The detector
installation has been completed in May 2008. ANTARES detects the Cherenkov
light from relativistic charged particles emitted in the interaction of
neutrinos, when they cross the sea water. Upward moving relativistic muons are
produced in the interactions of high energy neutrinos with the Earth
underneath the detector.
   The first data collected from the ANTARES neutrino telescope confirm the
detector design parameters. An excellent angular resolution of 0.3 degrees,
for neutrinos with energy in excess of 10 TeV, gives ANTARES exceptional
capabilities for the observation of astrophysical sources of high energy
neutrinos.
 The current status of  the ANTARES neutrino telescope, including preliminary
results, will be described in the talk.