An infrared image of dust clouds in the Cocoon nebula captured by NASA’s retired Spitzer Space Telescope. An overlay (in green to yellow to red) indicates rgions of gamma-ray emissions where cosmic rays may be generated. Image: TeV: Binita Hona (HAWC Collaboration), IR: Hora et. al, Spitzer’s Growing Legacy, ASP Conference Series, 2010, P. Ogle, ed.
Conventional wisdom holds that high-energy cosmic rays crashing into Earth’s atmosphere at the speed of light, triggering showers of cascading particles, are generated in powerful supernova blasts.
Not so fast, researchers say.
As it turns out, supernovae, which do indeed generate high-energy gamma rays, are not powerful enough to explain the petaelectronvolt (PeV) energies observed with the most extreme cosmic ray events. Instead of supernovae, new research suggests, star clusters featuring closely packed type O and type B stars are responsible, acting as so-called PeVatron accelerators.
Not So Fast, Supernova: Highest-energy Cosmic Rays Detected in Star Clusters mtu.edu - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from mtu.edu Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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IMAGE: An infrared image of the dust clouds in the Cocoon region taken with the Spitzers Space Telescope s IR photometer. The HAWC TeV gamma-ray excess (color from green to yellow to. view more
Credit: TeV: Binita Hona (HAWC Collaboration), IR: Hora et. al, Spitzer s Growing Legacy, ASP Conference Series, 2010, P. Ogle, ed.
LOS ALAMOS, N.M., March 11, 2021 A long-time question in astrophysics appears to finally be answered, thanks to a collection of large, high-tech water tanks on a mountainside in Mexico. The High-Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) data shows that the highest-energy cosmic rays come not from supernovae, but from star clusters.
Not so fast, supernova: highest-energy cosmic rays detected in star clusters eurekalert.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from eurekalert.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.