12/28/2023 0 Comments Nasa bbc news cosmic rays 2016uncovered a powerful point source of gamma rays in the galactic center region, as well as diffuse gamma-ray emission from the giant molecular clouds that surround it in a region approximately 500 light-years across. Collaboration as described in their research letter, titled “Acceleration of Petaelectronvolt Protons in the Galactic Centre,” finally provide strong indications.ĭuring the first three years of observations, the H.E.S.S. While many multi-TeV accelerators where discovered during the last 10 years, so far the search for the sources of the highest energy galactic cosmic rays remained unsuccessful. Theoretical arguments and direct measurement of cosmic rays reaching Earth however indicate that the cosmic ray factories in our galaxy should be able to provide particles to at least one peta-electronvolt (PeV). Today we know that cosmic rays with energies up to approximately 100 tera-electronvolts (TeV) are produced in our galaxy by objects such as supernova remnants and pulsar wind nebulae. It is operated by scientists from 42 institutions in 12 countries, including astrophysicists from the Wits School of Physics, with major contributions by MPIK Heidelberg, Germany, and CEA, CNRS, France. observatory represents the latest generation of such telescope arrays. When a high-energy gamma ray reaches Earth, it interacts with a molecule in the upper atmosphere, producing a shower of secondary particles that emit a short pulse of “Cherenkov light.”īy detecting these flashes of light using telescopes equipped with large mirrors, sensitive photo detectors, and fast electronics, more than 100 sources of high-energy gamma rays have been identified over the past three decades. These gamma rays travel in straight lines, undeflected by magnetic fields, and can therefore be traced back to their origin. Thus, for more than a century, the origin of the cosmic rays has remained one of the most enduring mysteries of science.įortunately, cosmic rays interact with light and gas in the neighborhood of their sources and thus produce gamma-rays. Their path through the cosmos is randomized by these deflections, making it impossible to directly identify the astrophysical sources responsible for their production. The Earth is constantly bombarded by high-energy particles (protons, electrons, and atomic nuclei) of cosmic origin, particles that comprise the so-called “cosmic radiation.” These “cosmic rays” are electrically charged and are strongly deflected by the interstellar magnetic fields that pervade our galaxy. gamma-ray measurements in the inner 30 light-years of our galaxy with the radio measurements of the magnetic field in the same region that will be produced by the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) and its precursor MeerKAT radio telescope.” “In future, our understanding of how cosmic rays travel in the galaxy on their path to the Earth and how they interact with the material of which our galaxy is made of, will also be further boosted by combining the H.E.S.S. Said Colafrancesco: “We are therefore able to use the center of our galaxy as a laboratory for testing the nature and the interaction properties of the most extreme particles in the universe, beyond the capability of any viable terrestrial accelerator. The supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy is likely to accelerate cosmic ray particles to energies 100 times larger than those achieved at the largest terrestrial particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider at European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Switzerland.Īccording to Sergio Colafrancesco from the University of the Witwaatersrand, the discovery sheds light simultaneously on two fundamental aspects of nature: the understanding of the origin of cosmic rays since the discovery of their extraterrestrial nature in 1912, and the ability of the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy (as in almost every other galaxy in the universe) to accelerate the most energetic particles produced in the universe. ![]() ![]() The findings reveal for the first time a source of cosmic radiation at energies never observed before in the Milky Way. ![]() In yet another discovery emanating from detailed analysis of the latest data from the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) observatory in Namibia, an international team of scientists, including astrophysicists from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, announced they have found the most powerful source of cosmic radiation at the center of our galaxy.
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