Supernova Shockwaves -The Most Awesome Force in the Universe
Scientists are scanning the skies to find the source of cosmic rays, and not all of them are Doctor Doom. Cosmic rays are hugely energetic particles slamming into our utter atmosphere, unleashing showers of radiations and particle products in the process, and incidentally acting as proof that the anti-LHC crowd don't know what they're talking about (cosmic rays have energies so far in excess of our abilities they make mechanical particle accelerators look like a small string pulled by a kitten.)
It's long been suspected that these cosmic rays are caused by supernovae, as the shock front of the stellar detonation slams into other material. One attempt to verify this is a team working with the HESS (High Energy Stereoscopic System) telescopes which detect the effects of particles moving faster than light. You can't go faster than light in a vacuum, but in air it's a tiny bit slower so some spectacularly energetic processes - like cosmic ray collisions with the atmosphere - can unleash such supraluminal velocities. The c-prime-plus particles rapidly lose their energy in collisions with everything else, giving off blue "Cherenkov radiation" in the process. The HESS telescopes can observe these, the signpost of cosmic collisions.
Aiming the HESS at the core of our own Milky Way, the team believe that the cosmic radiation comes from an interstellar cloud being cooked up by a supernova shockwave.
Another approach was taken by a team working with the VERITAS (Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System), another Cherenkov detector. By scanning the 'starburst galaxy' M82 they were able to test the supernova theory. Since M82 has a much higher rate of star formation (and thus supernova explosion) than similarly sized galaxies, an increased cosmic ray intensity would support the supernova theory. This increased intensity was observed.
Of course, correlation isn't necessarily causation - something any scientist will tell you at any time at the least provocation. But that's why we work with words like "theory", and "support", and "rigorously collecting data and inviting peer review of our work" and all the other things many flavors of public-shouting idiots interpret as flaws or weakness. The supernova shockwave
The series of three images above taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope reveals magnificent sections of one of the most spectacular supernova remnants in the sky - the Veil Nebula. The entire shell spans about 3 degrees, corresponding to about 6 full moons. The small regions captured in the new Hubble images provide stunning close-ups of the Veil. Fascinating smoke-like wisps of gas are all that remain visible of what was once a Milky Way star.
Scientists estimate that the supernova explosion occurred some 5-10,000 years ago and could have been witnessed and recorded by ancient civilizations. These would have seen a star increase in brightness to roughly the brightness of the crescent Moon.
The intertwined rope-like filaments of gas in the Veil Nebula result from the enormous amounts of energy released as the fast-moving debris from the explosion ploughs into its surroundings and creates shock fronts. These shocks, driven by debris moving at 600,000 kilometres per hour, heat the gas to millions of degrees. It is the subsequent cooling of this material that produces the brilliantly colored glows.
Cosmic Ray Explorations
It is far more fascinating and fruitful to concentrate on Cosmic ray studies beyond the confines of our earth. Lot of knowledge is available there than what you can ever expect to come out of the momentus, gigantic, money- guzzler you have in the form of Geneva's LHC machine.
Individual fancy of a few scientists has cost the world a lot of wealth gone or going to go waste, a harsh criticism from a person who cares for the essential needs of the humanity on earth, not just the developed world. We are one as shown by the pollution and global warming phenomena. The earlier we realize it , the better it will be for the entire humanity!
Posted by: Narendra Nath | December 12, 2009 at 12:29 AM
Disagree with Above comment in total.
LHC is a different type of machine mostly aimed to search and re-create the magics of the misterious HIGGS Boson (also available in the form of Hadron).
What hell has the LHC to do with cosmic rays or often feared 'Black holes' it is only in the mind of unconscious people.
Regards to LHC
Posted by: Claudio | December 12, 2009 at 11:58 AM
Isn't the LHC different in one significant way? In space, these particles are hitting RELATIVELY stable particles, with low amounts of inertia. In the LHC, BOTH particles carry tremendous amounts of inertia. This is a far and away different environment than the upper reaches of our atmosphere, where particles are not so closely grouped, allowing a "braking" of the particles, and are NOT in an "accelerated" state. Yes?
Posted by: Dream Killer | December 14, 2009 at 11:26 AM