After over a decade of meticulous data collection, scientists at the H.E.S.S. observatory — which stands for “High Energy Stereoscopic System” and is located in Namibia — have made a groundbreaking discovery. They’ve detected the most energetic cosmic electrons ever observed, unlocking new avenues in our understanding of the universe.
“Cosmic rays are a century-old mystery,” Mathieu de Naurois, a researcher at the French National Centre for Scientific Research and deputy director of the H.E.S.S. collaboration, told Space.com.
First reported in 1912 by Austrian physicist Victor Hess, cosmic rays were discovered after a series of balloon ascents meant to explore ionizing radiation that was first detected on an electroscope. However, after reaching an altitude of 5,300 meters, Hess unveiled a natural source of high-energy particles from space. Today, we call those particles cosmic rays.
Now, H.E.S.S. scientists are excited because they’ve detected the highest energy electrons and positrons to date (a positron is like the “opposite” of an electron because it has the mass of an electron, but is positively charged like a proton), which make up one component of high-energy cosmic rays.The finding is exciting because it provides tangible evidence of extreme cosmic processes unleashing colossal amounts of energy.
Related: Earth got hammered by cosmic rays 41,000 years ago due to a weak magnetic field
“Understanding these cosmic rays allows us to unveil big particle accelerators in the universe that are often associated with the most violent phenomena: the explosion of stars; very compact objects with huge gravitational and electromagnetic fields, such as neutron stars and pulsars; cataclysmic mergers; and black holes,” said de Naurois.
The cool part is, because electrons at this energy lose energy quickly, the team believes they must be coming from relatively nearby. “In the vicinity of our solar system, there [are] very efficient cosmic accelerators of electrons,” de Naurois said. “Within a few hundred light-years, there are many stars, with the nearest ones typically lying two light-years from the Earth. We would therefore also expect to have a few ‘dead stars’ in this region, such as pulsars or supernova remnants, which could be the sources of these electrons.”
