- 3691 - COSMIC RAYS - where do they come from? The light from the sun is scattered in the Earth's atmosphere and spreads evenly across the entire sky. Cosmic rays are also scattered on their way to Earth, through interactions with cosmic magnetic fields. All we can see from Earth is an evenly illuminated image; the origin of the radiation remains hidden.
--------------------- 3691 - COSMIC RAYS - where do they come from?
- Plasma is one of the four fundamental states of matter. It contains a significant portion of charged particles – ions and/or electrons. The presence of these charged particles is what primarily sets plasma apart from the other fundamental states of matter. It is the most abundant form of ordinary matter in the universe, being mostly associated with stars, including the Sun. It extends to the rarefied intracluster medium and possibly to intergalactic regions.
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- Plasma can be artificially generated by heating a neutral gas or subjecting it to a strong electromagnetic field. Scientists have been trying to solve a vexing problem regarding the weather in outer space. At unpredictable times, high-energy particles bombard the Earth and objects outside the Earth's atmosphere with radiation that can endanger the lives of astronauts and destroy satellites' electronic equipment.
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- These cosmic ray flare-ups can even trigger showers of radiation strong enough to reach passengers in airplanes flying over the North Pole. Despite scientists' best efforts, a clear pattern of how and when flare-ups will occur has remained enduringly difficult to identify.
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- NASA's Parker Solar Probe, the closest spacecraft to the sun is directly observing the predicted distribution of high-energy particles that are generated in the sun's outer atmosphere. Magnetic fields in the outer atmosphere of the sun can accelerate ions and electrons up to velocities close to the speed of light.
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- The sun and other stars' outer atmosphere consist of particles in a plasma state, a highly turbulent state distinct from liquid, gas, and solid states. Scientists have long believed that the sun's plasma generates high-energy particles. But particles in plasma move so erratically and unpredictably that they have until now not been able to fully demonstrate how and when this occurs.
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- In 1949, the physicist Enrico Fermi began to investigate magnetic fields in outer space as a potential source of the high-energy particles (which he called cosmic rays) that were observed entering the Earth's atmosphere. Since then, scientists have suspected that the sun's plasma is a major source of these particles.
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- The vast majority of the observable matter in the universe is in a plasma state. Understanding how some of the particles that constitute plasma can be accelerated to high-energy levels is an important new research area since energetic particles are routinely observed not just around the sun but also in other environments across the universe, including the surroundings of black holes and neutron stars.
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- So far, we do not know which celestial objects emit the high-energy radiation that pelts the Earth from space. Since their discovery 100 years ago, researchers have been attempting to decipher where cosmic rays come from. The problem is that, viewed from Earth, they look like the sky during daytime to the naked eye, equally brightly illuminated almost everywhere we look.
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- This is because the light from the sun is scattered in the Earth's atmosphere and spreads evenly across the entire sky. Cosmic rays are also scattered on their way to Earth, through interactions with cosmic magnetic fields. All we can see from Earth is an evenly illuminated image; the origin of the radiation remains hidden.
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- Computer programs can simulate not only cosmic ray propagation, but also signatures of neutrinos and gamma rays that are produced in cosmic ray interactions. Unlike cosmic rays, these messenger particles can be observed directly from their sources, as they come to Earth on a straight path.
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September 23, 2022 COSMIC RAYS - where do they come from? 3691
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