Jakarta –
Recently, astronomer detects a high energy particle falling into Earth from outer space. Her name is Amaterasu, taken from the name of the sun god in Japanese mythology. This is the highest energy beam ever detected, according to the journal Science.
The source is still unknown, but scientists believe that only a very large incident, even larger than the explosion of a star like the Sun, could create these rays.
“Things that people think are energetic, like supernovae, are not as energetic,” said John Matthews, a research professor at the University of Utah’s Physics and Astronomy Studies Program.
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Amaterasu particles have energies exceeding 240 exa-electron volts (EeV), which is millions of times greater than what particles can achieve in the giant hadron collider, the most powerful accelerator ever created.
This particle is second only to the Oh-My-God particle, another ultra-high energy cosmic ray detected in 1991, having an energy of 320 EeV.
“When I first discovered these ultra-high-energy cosmic rays, I thought there must be a mistake, because they showed energies that had never been discovered before in the last three decades,” said Toshihiro Fujii, a young professor at Osaka Metropolitan University in Japan.
The moment these ultra-energetic cosmic rays hit Earth’s atmosphere, they initiate a cascade of secondary particles and electromagnetic radiation known as a vast air shower.
Some of the charged particles in the air shower are faster than light, creating a kind of electromagnetic radiation that can be detected by special instruments, one of which is the Telescope Array Observatory in Utah, USA, which discovered the Amaterasu particle.
This mysterious event is assumed to have arisen from the Local Void, an empty space in space that borders the Milky Way galaxy. “These particles are very high energy, they should not be influenced by galactic and extragalactic magnetic charges,” said Matthews as quoted by detikINET from Independent, Friday (24/11/2023)
“But in the case of the Oh-My-God particle and this new particle, you trace their paths back to their source and find there is no energy high enough to create them. Therein lies the mystery. What is actually going on?” Matthews added.
They hope the Amaterasu particles will facilitate future investigations that could help explain ultra-high energy cosmic rays and where they come from.
“These events seem to come from a completely different place in space. It’s not like there’s a mysterious source there. It could be due to a flaw in the fabric of space-time, colliding with cosmic strings. I mean, I’m just throwing out crazy ideas that “appears because there is no conventional explanation,” said John Belz, a professor at the University of Utah’s Physics and Astronomy Study Program.
*This article was written by Khalisha Fitri, a participant in the Merdeka Campus Certified Internship Program at detikcom.
Watch the video “What would Earth be like if it were uninhabited?”
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2023-11-24 22:45:14
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