A group of scientists working in the South Pole have made an interesting discovery. Why the South Pole? Simple: there is no light pollution, or pollution in the atmosphere so that special instruments and lenses can capture a lot more than in other continents.
What they have discovered is high energy neutrinos entering our Solar Systems, but the scientists believe they derive, or a product of, of black holes or similar phenomena where high energy particles are produced.
Cosmic rays are usually very hard to detect. Their high electric charge is easily deflected by magnetic fields. But Neutrinos carried by the cosmic rays, do not have such a charge can instead be detected.
Until 1987 all the neutrinos discovered were believed to be from the Sun. But these new neutrinos speak to a much more distant origin. These neutrinos, in fact, have been called extraterrestrial neutrinos, and are more than a million times more charged than the ones previously detected.
The extraterrestrial neutrinos were detected by the so called "Artic Eye" a sensor that detects when neutrinos strike the icy surface of the Arctic.
Two detections in 2012 were at the basis of the discovery. After that 26 more were found. Different kind of neutrinos strike Earth all the time, but they are usually from neighboring stars, such as the Sun.
The scientists who have analyzed them belive that they originate from the same events that produce cosmic rays. If their origin could be confirmed, it could help solve the mystery of cosmic rays.
Source : University of Wisconsin/ 12.16.13
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