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Source of Cosmic Rays Identified |
| Written by SerenaStargazer | |
| Saturday, 07 May 2005 | |
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A statistical analysis of data from cosmic ray observatories in Japan and Utah has revealed four ultra-high-energy cosmic rays originating from one point in the sky, as well as a fifth event, at a lower energy, in the same area. The five rays arrived over 10 years from a spot near the second magnitude star Merak (Beta Ursae Majoris). The odds of the four ultra-high-energy rays being coincidentally aligned are less than 1 in 100. According to Glennys Farrar and her coworkers at New York University, who discovered the rays, the ultra-high-energy rays could have been produced by events emitting extremely high energy levels, such as gamma-ray bursts, active galactic nuclei (quasars) or a massive star collapsing into a black hole. The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) of galaxies suggests that the source of the rays is two rich clusters of galaxies merging about 350 million light-years away. |
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