Scientists have detected a mysterious cosmic ray from outside

An extremely rare one particle To the fullest extent High energyWhich he believes he traveled to Land From our galaxy, scientists have identified.

Cosmic ray energy, invisible to the naked eye, is equivalent to dropping a brick on your toe from waist height, according to the authors of new research published Thursday in the journal Science. It rivals the most energetic cosmic ray ever observed, an “oh my God” particle that was discovered in 1991, according to the study published Thursday in the journal Science.

the secular rays They are charged particles that move through space and constantly fall into it Land. Low-energy cosmic rays may come from the Sun, but high-energy cosmic rays are rare. It is believed that they travel to Earth from other galaxies and Outside the galaxy sources.

High energy particles have not yet arrived Clear Where are you from They are coming. It is believed that they are related to him The black ones HolesGamma-ray bursts and active galactic nuclei, while rarely coming from absolute vacuum.

Tracking high-energy cosmic rays

The newly discovered particle, nicknamed AmaterasuIt, named after the sun goddess in Japanese mythology, was spotted by an observatory in Utah’s western desert known as the Telescope Array.

The particle hits the atmosphere above Jute On May 27, 2021, with a calculated energy of about 244 electron eV. The “Oh My God” particle was discovered 30 years ago For many years it had an energy of 320 six-electron volts.

For example, 1 hexa electron volt It is equal to 1 billion gigaelectronvolts, and 1 gigaelectronvolt is equal to 1 billion electronvolts. This would make the Amaterasu particle 244,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 MeV. By comparison, the typical energy of an electron in an aurora is 40,000 MeV, according to… NASA.

Cosmic ray very high energy It carries tens of millions of times more energy than any man-made particle accelerator Large Hadron Colliderthe most powerful accelerator ever built, he explained to CNN Glenys Farrarprofessor of physics at New York University.

The chances of these particles colliding with the Earth are A few. The atmosphere largely protects people from any harmful effects of particles, though secular rays Sometimes it causes computer crashes. Particles, and space radiation in general, pose a greater risk to astronauts, with the potential to cause structural damage to DNA and alter many cellular processes, according to NASA.

Its origin is a mystery

The particle AmaterasuIn particular, it appears to have come from what is known as the local void, an empty region of space bordering our Milky Way Galaxy.

“He comes from what feels like a local vacuum. It’s a vacuum. So, what the hell is going on?”

Expanding the telescope array may provide some answers. Once completed, 500 new detectors will allow… telescope array array It captured a shower of particles caused by cosmic rays over an area of ​​more than 2,900 square kilometers (about 1,120 square miles) – an area roughly the size of planet Earth. Rhode Island, according to a statement from the University of Utah…