ScienceDaily: Cosmic Ray News

Black hole powered jets plow into galaxy

Wed, 15 May 2013 15:14:14 EDT

The intense gravity of a supermassive black hole can be tapped to produce immense power in the form of jets moving at millions of miles per hour.

Exotic atoms hold clues to unsolved physics puzzle at the dawn of the universe

Wed, 08 May 2013 17:21:21 EDT

An international team of physicists has found the first direct evidence of pear shaped nuclei in exotic atoms. The findings could advance the search for a new fundamental force in nature that could explain why the Big Bang created more matter than antimatter -- a pivotal imbalance in the history of everything.

New kind of cosmic flash may reveal birth of a black hole

Fri, 03 May 2013 23:04:04 EDT

According to an astrophysicist, a new kind of cosmic flash may reveal something never seen before: the birth of a black hole.

'Shockingly bright' burst of gamma rays from dying star in distant galaxy

Fri, 03 May 2013 15:15:15 EDT

A record-setting blast of gamma rays from a dying star in a distant galaxy has wowed astronomers around the world. The eruption, which is classified as a gamma-ray burst, or GRB, and designated GRB 130427A, produced the highest-energy light ever detected from such an event.

Distant blazar is a high-energy astrophysics puzzle

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 12:57:57 EDT

Blazars are the brightest of active galactic nuclei, and many emit very high-energy gamma rays. New observations of the blazar known as PKS 1424+240 show that it is the most distant known source of very high-energy gamma rays, but its emission spectrum now appears highly unusual in light of the new data.

X-ray view of a thousand-year-old cosmic tapestry

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 16:50:50 EDT

A long Chandra observation reveals the SN 1006 supernova remnant in exquisite detail. By overlapping 10 different pointings of Chandra's field-of-view, astronomers have stitched together a cosmic tapestry of the debris field that was created when a white dwarf star exploded, sending its material hurtling into space as seen from Earth over a millennium ago. In this new Chandra image, low, medium, and higher-energy X-rays are colored red, green, and blue respectively.

NASA's Wind mission encounters 'SLAMS' waves

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 18:00:00 EDT

To tease out what happens at that boundary of the magnetosphere and to better understand how radiation and energy from the sun can cross it and move closer to Earth, NASA launches spacecraft into this region to observe the changing conditions. From 1998 to 2002, NASA's Wind spacecraft traveled through this foreshock region in front of Earth 17 times, providing new information about the physics there.

Dying supergiant stars implicated in hours-long gamma-ray bursts

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 18:00:00 EDT

Three unusually long-lasting stellar explosions discovered by NASA's Swift satellite represent a previously unrecognized class of gamma-ray bursts. Two international teams of astronomers studying these events conclude that they likely arose from the catastrophic death of supergiant stars hundreds of times larger than the sun.

Strange new bursts of gamma rays point to a new way to destroy a star

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 14:47:47 EDT

Scientists have pinpointed a new type of exceptionally powerful and long-lived cosmic explosion, prompting a theory that they arise in the violent death throes of a supergiant star.

Blame it on the rain (from Saturn's rings): More charged water particles fall than thought

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 20:23:23 EDT

A new study tracks the "rain" of charged water particles into the atmosphere of Saturn and finds there is more of it and it falls across larger areas of the planet than previously thought. The study, whose observations were funded by NASA and whose analysis was led by the University of Leicester, England, reveals that the rain influences the composition and temperature structure of parts of Saturn's upper atmosphere.

Dark lightning: Are airplane passengers exposed to radiation from intense bursts of gamma-rays from thunderclouds?

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 08:27:27 EDT

Scientists have known for almost a decade that thunderstorms are capable of generating brief but powerful bursts of gamma-rays called terrestrial gamma-ray flashes, or TGFs. Because they can originate near the same altitudes at which commercial aircraft routinely fly, scientists have been trying to determine whether or not terrestrial gamma ray flashes present a radiation hazard to individuals in aircraft. In the middle of the storm, radiation doses could be roughly equal to a full-body CT scan, preliminary research suggests.

Exposure to space radiation reduces ability of intestinal cells to destroy oncoprotein

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 14:48:48 EDT

With so much recent interest in space travel, many have asked, is it safe? Two studies funded by NASA help explain why space radiation may increase the risk of colorectal cancer in humans.

NASA selects Explorer investigations for formulation

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 05:52:52 EDT

NASA's Astrophysics Explorer Program has selected two missions for launch in 2017: a planet-hunting satellite and an International Space Station instrument to observe X-rays from stars.

TESS project will launch telescopes to perform full-sky search for transiting exoplanets

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 05:50:50 EDT

NASA has selected the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) project for a planned launch in 2017. The $200 million project will use an array of wide-field cameras to perform an all-sky survey to discover transiting exoplanets, ranging from Earth-sized planets to gas giants, in orbit around the brightest stars in the sun's neighborhood.

NASA taps the power of zombie stars in two-in-one instrument

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 03:53:53 EDT

Neutron stars have been called the zombies of the cosmos. They shine even though they're technically dead, occasionally feeding on neighboring stars if they venture too close. Interestingly, these unusual objects, born when a massive star extinguishes its fuel and collapses under its own gravity, also may help future space travelers navigate to Mars and other distant destinations. NASA recently selected a new mission called the Neutron-star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) to not only reveal the physics that make neutron stars the densest objects in nature, but also to demonstrate a groundbreaking navigation technology that could revolutionize the agency's ability to travel to the far reaches of the solar system and beyond.

Listening to the Big Bang -- in high fidelity

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 17:01:01 EDT

Physicist have updated the decade-old re-creation of the sound of the Big Bang that started the universe.

Green Pea galaxies could help astronomers understand early universe

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 14:14:14 EDT

The rare Green Pea galaxies discovered by the general public in 2007 could help confirm astronomers' understanding of reionization, a pivotal stage in the evolution of the early universe.

Search for dark matter: Experiment measures antimatter excess in cosmic ray flux

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 11:53:53 EDT

The international team running the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) today announced the first results in its search for dark matter. They report the observation of an excess of positrons in the cosmic ray flux. The results are consistent with the positrons originating from the annihilation of dark matter particles in space, but not yet sufficiently conclusive to rule out other explanations.

Taken under the 'wing' of the small magellanic cloud: First detection of X-ray emission from young stars with masses similar to our Sun outside our Milky Way galaxy

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 10:42:42 EDT

The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is one of the Milky Way's closest galactic neighbors. In fact, it was so bright that many navigators used this object to make their way across the oceans. A new composite image shows this galaxy like Ferdinand Magellan, who lends his name to the SMC, could never have imagined. New Chandra data of the SMC have provided the first detection of X-ray emission from young stars with masses similar to our Sun outside our Milky Way galaxy.

Speed of light may not be fixed, scientists suggest; Ephemeral vacuum particles induce speed-of-light fluctuations

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 11:11:11 EDT

Two new articles challenge established wisdom about the nature of vacuum. In one article scientists have identified a quantum level mechanism for interpreting vacuum as being filled with pairs of virtual particles with fluctuating energy values. As a result, the inherent characteristics of vacuum, like the speed of light, may not be a constant after all, but fluctuate.

'Sideline quasars' helped to stifle early galaxy formation

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 11:10:10 EDT

Astronomers targeting one of the brightest quasars glowing in the universe some 11 billion years ago say "sideline quasars" likely teamed up with it to heat abundant helium gas billions of years ago, preventing small galaxy formation.

Voyager 1 has entered a new region of space, sudden changes in cosmic rays indicate

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 13:42:42 EDT

Thirty-five years after its launch, Voyager 1 appears to have travelled beyond the influence of the Sun and exited the heliosphere, according to a new study.

Leaping lunar dust: Electrically charged dust near shadowed craters can get lofted above Moon's surface

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 10:43:43 EDT

Electrically charged lunar dust near shadowed craters can get lofted above the surface and jump over the shadowed region, bouncing back and forth between sunlit areas on opposite sides, according to new calculations by NASA scientists.

A youthful 'star wreck': Youngest-known supernova remnants in our Milky Way galaxy

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 15:13:13 EDT

While performing an extensive X-ray survey of our galaxy's central regions, NASA's Swift satellite has uncovered the previously unknown remains of a shattered star. Designated G306.3.9 after the coordinates of its sky position, the new object ranks among the youngest-known supernova remnants in our Milky Way galaxy.

Life in the universe: Foundations of carbon-based life leave little room for error

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 18:23:23 EDT

Life as we know it is based upon the elements of carbon and oxygen. Now a team of physicists is looking at the conditions necessary to the formation of those two elements in the universe. They've found that when it comes to supporting life, the universe leaves very little margin for error.

Probing extreme matter through observations of neutron stars

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 13:38:38 EST

Neutron stars, the ultra-dense cores left behind after massive stars collapse, contain the densest matter known in the Universe outside of a black hole. New results have provided one of the most reliable determinations yet of the relation between the radius of a neutron star and its mass. These results constrain how nuclear matter – protons and neutrons, and their constituent quarks – interact under the extreme conditions found in neutron stars.

Working at the extreme edge of cosmic ice

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 12:58:58 EST

Behind locked doors, in a lab built like a bomb shelter, Perry Gerakines makes something ordinary yet truly alien: ice. This isn't the ice of snowflakes or ice cubes. No, this ice needs such intense cold and low pressure to form that the right conditions rarely, if ever, occur naturally on Earth. And when Gerakines makes the ice, he must keep the layer so microscopically thin it is dwarfed by a grain of pollen. These ultrathin layers turn out to be perfect for recreating some of the key chemistry that takes place in space.

NASA's Van Allen Probes reveal a new radiation belt around Earth

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 15:54:54 EST

NASA's Van Allen Probes mission has discovered a previously unknown third radiation belt around Earth, revealing the existence of unexpected structures and processes within these hazardous regions of space.

Fermi's motion produces a study in spirograph

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 18:35:35 EST

NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope orbits our planet every 95 minutes, building up increasingly deeper views of the universe with every circuit. Its wide-eyed Large Area Telescope sweeps across the entire sky every three hours, capturing the highest-energy form of light -- gamma rays -- from sources across the universe. These range from supermassive black holes billions of light-years away to intriguing objects in our own galaxy, such as X-ray binaries, supernova remnants and pulsars.

NASA's NuSTAR helps solve riddle of black hole spin

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 13:25:25 EST

Two X-ray space observatories, NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) and the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton, have teamed up to measure definitively, for the first time, the spin rate of a black hole with a mass 2 million times that of our sun.

Faraday cup critical part of audacious mission to the sun

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 14:11:11 EST

A critical instrument on a mission to the sun is being tested. The flight's experiments could answer the question: How can the sun be hot at its core yet stay relatively cool at its surface, while at the same time super-heating its coronal atmosphere? Unlike Earth's atmosphere, which cools with increasing height from the surface, the sun's atmosphere gets hotter as it becomes more distant from the solar surface.

NASA's SDO shows a little 'rain' on the sun

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 15:36:36 EST

Eruptive events on the sun can be wildly different. Some come just with a solar flare, some with an additional ejection of solar material called a coronal mass ejection, and some with complex moving structures in association with changes in magnetic field lines that loop up into the sun's atmosphere, the corona. On July 19, 2012, an eruption occurred on the sun that produced all three.

Sun's next-door twin: Cool layer in the atmosphere of Alpha Centauri A

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 09:24:24 EST

The European Space Agency's Herschel space observatory has detected a cool layer in the atmosphere of Alpha Centauri A, the first time this has been seen in a star beyond our own Sun. The finding is not only important for understanding the Sun's activity, but could also help in the quest to discover proto-planetary systems around other stars.

Cassini sheds light on cosmic particle accelerators

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 16:32:32 EST

During a chance encounter with what appears to be an unusually strong blast of solar wind at Saturn, NASA's Cassini spacecraft detected particles being accelerated to ultra-high energies. This is similar to the acceleration that takes place around distant supernovas.

Tiny CREPT instrument to study the radiation belts

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 19:42:42 EST

A smaller version of an instrument now flying on NASA's Van Allen Probes has won a coveted spot aboard an upcoming NASA-sponsored Cubesat mission -- the perfect platform for this pint-size, solid-state telescope.

Supernova remnants produce cosmic rays

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 19:41:41 EST

A new study reveals the first clear-cut evidence the expanding debris of exploded stars produces some of the fastest-moving matter in the universe. This discovery is a major step toward understanding the origin of cosmic rays, one of Fermi's primary mission goals.

Clues to the mysterious origin of cosmic rays

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 14:18:18 EST

Very detailed new observations of the remains of a thousand-year-old supernova have revealed clues to the origins of cosmic rays. For the first time the observations suggest the presence of fast-moving particles in the supernova remnant that could be the precursors of such cosmic rays.

Rare explosion created our galaxy's youngest black hole, study suggests

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 11:45:45 EST

New data suggest a highly distorted supernova remnant may contain the most recent black hole formed in the Milky Way galaxy. The remnant appears to be the product of a rare explosion in which matter is ejected at high speeds along the poles of a rotating star.

NASA scientists build first-ever wide-field X-ray imager

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 13:17:17 EST

Three NASA scientists teamed up to develop and demonstrate NASA's first wide-field-of-view soft X-ray camera for studying "charge exchange," a poorly understood phenomenon that occurs when the solar wind collides with Earth's exosphere and neutral gas in interplanetary space.

Enigmatic 'ribbon' of energy discovered by NASA satellite explained

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 13:17:17 EST

After three years of puzzling over a striking "ribbon" of energy and particles discovered by NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer at the edge of our solar system, scientists may be on the verge of cracking the mystery.

A spiral galaxy with a secret

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 12:37:37 EST

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope -- with a little help from an amateur astronomer -- has produced one of the best views yet of nearby spiral galaxy Messier 106. Located a little over 20 million light-years away, practically a neighbor by cosmic standards, Messier 106 is one of the brightest and nearest spiral galaxies to our own.

Twenty NASA balloons studying the radiation belts

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 12:26:26 EST

In the bright, constant sun of the Antarctic summer, a NASA-funded team is launching balloons. There are twenty of these big, white balloons, each of which sets off on a different day for a leisurely float around the South Pole to collect information about something far more speedy: the rain of particles that can precipitate out of two gigantic donuts around Earth known as the radiation belts.

NASA's Super-TIGER balloon breaks records while collecting cosmic ray data

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 19:08:08 EST

A large NASA science balloon has broken two flight duration records while flying over Antarctica carrying an instrument that detected 50 million cosmic rays.

Light shone on star mystery: Why sun's corona is much hotter than its surface

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 09:46:46 EST

Scientists have begun to unlock the mystery of why the outer edge of the Sun is much hotter than its surface for the first time.

Astronomers ask 'where are all the dwarf galaxies?'

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 09:03:03 EST

Astronomers have identified “Cosmic Web Stripping” as a new way of explaining the famous missing dwarf problem: the lack of observed dwarf galaxies compared with that predicted by the theory of Cold Dark Matter and Dark Energy.

Chameleon star baffles astronomers

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 18:34:34 EST

New observations of a pulsar challenge all proposed pulsar emissions theories, a new study reports. This reopens a decades-old debate about the nature of these bizarre stars.

Chameleon pulsar dramatically changes the way it shines

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 15:08:08 EST

A pulsar that is able, without warning, to dramatically change the way in which it shines has been identified.

Revolutionary theory of dark matter

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 09:15:15 EST

The universe abounds with dark matter. Nobody knows what it consists of. Physicists in Norway have now come up with a mathematical explanation that could solve the mystery once and for all.

How the universe has cooled since the Big Bang fits Big Bang theory

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 10:16:16 EST

Astronomers have taken the universe's temperature, and have found that it has cooled down just the way the Big Bang theory predicts.

Setting the Dark on Fire: Beautiful view of clouds of cosmic dust in region of Orion

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 09:45:45 EST

In space, dense clouds of cosmic gas and dust are the birthplaces of new stars. In visible light, this dust is dark and obscuring, hiding the stars behind it. So much so that, when astronomer William Herschel observed one such cloud in the constellation of Scorpius in 1774, he thought it was a region empty of stars and is said to have exclaimed, "Truly there is a hole in the sky here!"

Did an 8th century gamma ray burst irradiate Earth?

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 08:32:32 EST

A nearby short duration gamma-ray burst may be the cause of an intense blast of high-energy radiation that hit the Earth in the 8th century, according to new research.

Nearby universe's 'cosmic fog' measured

Sat, 19 Jan 2013 18:50:50 EST

Researchers have carried out the first measurement of the intensity of the diffuse extragalactic background light in the nearby universe, a fog of photons that has filled the universe ever since its formation.

Light from darkness: Brilliant stars emerging from dusty stellar nursery

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 09:14:14 EST

An evocative new image from the European Southern Observatory shows a dark cloud where new stars are forming, along with a cluster of brilliant stars that have already emerged from their dusty stellar nursery.

Neon lights up exploding stars

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 08:55:55 EST

An international team of nuclear astrophysicists has shed new light on the explosive stellar events known as novae. These dramatic explosions are driven by nuclear processes and make previously unseen stars visible for a short time. The team of scientists measured the nuclear structure of the radioactive neon produced through this process in unprecedented detail. Their findings show there is much less uncertainty in how quickly one of the key nuclear reactions will occur as well as in the final abundance of radioactive isotopes than has previously been suggested.

New sunspots producing space weather

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 17:21:21 EST

On Jan. 13, 2013, at 2:24 a.m. EST, the sun erupted with an Earth-directed coronal mass ejection or CME. Not to be confused with a solar flare, a CME is a solar phenomenon that can send solar particles into space and reach Earth one to three days later.

Star Wars: What would hyperspace travel really look like?

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 09:25:25 EST

The sight of the Millennium Falcon making the “jump to lightspeed” is one of the most iconic images from the Star Wars trilogy.

Cluster mission indicates turbulent eddies may warm the solar wind

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 14:52:52 EST

The sun ejects a continuous flow of electrically charged particles and magnetic fields in the form of the solar wind -- and this wind is hotter than it should be. A new study of data obtained by European Space Agency's Cluster spacecraft may help explain the mystery.

New telescopes to give researchers glimpse of the beginning of time

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 14:19:19 EST

Where do we come from? What is the universe made of? Will the universe exist only for a finite time or will it last forever? These are just some of the questions that physicists are working to answer in the high desert of northern Chile.

Galaxy's gamma-ray flares erupted far from its black hole

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 17:50:50 EST

In 2011, a months-long blast of energy launched by an enormous black hole almost 11 billion years ago swept past Earth. Using a combination of data from NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and the National Science Foundation's Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), the world's largest radio telescope, astronomers have zeroed in on the source of this ancient outburst.

NASA's NuSTAR catches black holes in galaxy web

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 17:35:35 EST

NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, set its X-ray eyes on a spiral galaxy and caught the brilliant glow of two black holes lurking inside.