Artist's illustration of pulsar Geminga

Astronomy & Observing News

Seeing Inside a Cosmic Superaccelerator

Astronomers are exploring a celestial particle accelerator in the Eel Nebula that surrounds a distant pulsar.

Earth's magnetic field

Space Missions

The Hubble Space Telescope As Cosmic-Ray Detector

Astronomers, using Hubble Space Telescope as a particle detector, have traced cosmic rays flowing in Earth's geomagnetic field.

Gamma-rays from Milky Way

Milky Way

Tibet Observatory Confirms Existence of Galactic PeVatrons

A Tibetan cosmic-ray observatory has discovered high-energy particle accelerators within our galaxy.

Gamma-ray emitting supernova remnants

Stellar Science

Gamma-ray Supernova Remnants Shed Light on Cosmic Rays

Astronomers have found the gamma-ray-emitting remains of three exploded stars, and the remnants might reveal the origin of cosmic rays.

cosmic ray air shower

Cosmology

Some Cosmic Rays Come from Outside the Galaxy

Astronomers have detected more extremely energetic cosmic particles coming from one side of the sky than the other.

potential hotspot for cosmic rays

Astronomy & Observing News

Cosmic Rays Hint at Hotspot

A cluster of detections in the Northern Hemisphere sky might point to a source for the most energetic particles bombarding Earth's atmosphere.

Cosmology

Cosmic Ray Origin Still Mysterious

Observations out of Antarctica support the idea that the most energetic of the superspeedy space particles raining down on Earth are not from gamma-ray bursts. The new result prolongs a long-standing mystery in astrophysics.

Cosmology

Another Origin for Cosmic Rays

Recent gamma-ray observations support the longstanding theory that superspeedy particles called cosmic rays have their origin in the havoc-ridden regions around young star clusters.