Fermi telescope closes in on mystery of cosmic ray acceleration
Friday, January 8, 2010 - 15:28
in Astronomy & Space
In all directions of the sky, cosmic rays rocket through space with incredible speed. These `rays` -which mostly consist of protons -are some of the most energetic particles in the universe. For nearly 100 years, they have also been some of the most enigmatic. Now, a new result from the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope`s Large Area Telescope collaboration offers insight into how, exactly, the universe accelerates these particles to such high energies. The high-energy cosmic rays appear to be coming from supernova remnants, the dying remains of exploded stars; the new result reveals the spatial distribution of this emission in one particular supernova remnant.