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Tag Archives: gamma rays

Where cosmic rays are born

By Sid Perkins / February 16, 2013

Here we go! Shock waves in the clouds of gas surrounding an exploding star (as in this artist’s depiction) accelerate charged particles called protons to very high speed, creating cosmic rays.
Credit: Greg Stewart, SLAC Nat'l Accelerator Lab.

New evidence links origin of these very energetic particles to massive explosions of distant stars

Posted in Earth & Sky, Space | Tagged astrophysicist, atoms, cosmic rays, galactic magnetic field, gamma rays, getinvolved, Harvard University, light year, light-speed, Milky Way, Patrick Slane, protons, Stanford University, Stefan Funk, subatomic particle, supernova, supernova remnant, topstories

Twinkle, twinkle oldest stars

By Stephen Ornes / November 21, 2012

Blazars are bright galaxies that send high-powered radiation jets directly toward Earth. They can be used to detect the light in the universe left over from every star that ever shone. In this image, the blazars are shown as green dots; the Milky Way glows orange in the middle. Credit: NASA, DOE, Fermi LAT Collaboration

Astronomers find traces of ancient light in the activity of bright, distant galaxies

Posted in Space | Tagged astronomy, astrophysics, Big Bang, blazar, cosmic fog, cosmology, Fermi telescope, galaxy, gamma rays, getinvolved, Kavli Institute, light, optics, photon, photons, radiation, star, telescope, topstories, University of Texas at Austin, Volker Bromm