Scientists have detected cosmic rays with a jaw-dropping 40 TeV of energy—the highest ever recorded, striking Earth.
Spotted by Namibia's HESS observatory, researchers traced the powerful particles using faint blue Cherenkov radiation trails, but their origins remain a mystery.
40 TeV means the energy is about 40,000X, the energy of visible light
Said one Scientist "The universe is sending us some seriously high-energy signals! Watch for biological mutations to spike in the next year or so..... these evolutionary bursts alter DNA.
Cosmic rays are high-energy particles, primarily protons or atomic nuclei, that travel through space at nearly the speed of light.
Recently, scientists using the High Energy Stereoscopic System (HESS) observatory in Namibia have detected cosmic rays with energies reaching up to 40 teraelectronvolts (TeV), which is an unprecedented level of energy for cosmic ray electrons and positrons. This is the highest energy ever recorded for such particles.
The detection process involves observing the faint blue light known as Cherenkov radiation, which is emitted when these high-energy particles interact with Earth's atmosphere. This interaction creates a shower of secondary particles, and the Cherenkov radiation from these showers can be traced back to the original cosmic ray.
Yet, despite this significant detection, the origins of these extraordinarily energetic cosmic rays remain a mystery.
Cosmic rays lose energy as they travel through space due to interactions with cosmic background radiation and magnetic fields, suggesting that these 40 TeV particles must originate from sources relatively close to our solar system, within a few thousand light-years. However, no specific source has been identified yet.
Potential sources for such high-energy cosmic rays could include:
- **Supernova remnants**: The shockwaves from these stellar explosions can accelerate particles to high energies.
- **Pulsars**: Rapidly spinning neutron stars can generate strong magnetic fields, potentially accelerating particles.
- **Active galactic nuclei**: The centers of some galaxies where supermassive black holes are actively accreting material, which can also be sources of particle acceleration.
The challenge in pinpointing the exact origin lies in the deflection of charged particles by magnetic fields, which scatters their paths, making it difficult to trace back to a single point of origin.
Ongoing and future research, including enhanced observational capabilities and theoretical models, aims to unravel this cosmic mystery.
This discovery not only expands our understanding of cosmic rays but also poses new questions about the mechanisms that can produce such high energies in the universe.
A Geologist with a government geological agency - we won't report form which country - told us "This amount of energy hitting the earth is going directly to our planet core. This will result in greatly increased numbers of earthquakes and, worse, very powerful earthquakes. Soon!"
