Tracing Cosmic Rays Back to Their Roots
Cosmic rays are extremely high-energy particles from far beyond our Solar System. They provide us with important samples of material from outer space. But the magnetic fields in our Galaxy and Solar System scramble their paths so much that we can't trace them back to their source. But now, using the remains of a star that died a thousand years ago, astronomers have found clues as to where exactly cosmic rays form.
Credit:
ESO, Radio: NRAO/AUI/NSF/GBT/VLA/Dyer, Maddalena & Cornwell, X-ray: Chandra X-ray Observatory; NASA/CXC/Rutgers/G. Cassam-Chenaï, J. Hughes et al., Visible light: 0.9-metre Curtis Schmidt optical telescope; NOAO/AURA/NSF/CTIO/Middlebury College/F. Winkler and Digitized Sky Survey.
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