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Read articles, including Science News stories written for ages 9-14, on the
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- Fuzzy future: Kids may suffer impaired vision from spending too little time outdoors, studies suggest
- Building with moon rocks: Working on the moon with lunar soil and grit could prove easier, more efficient and less costly than using earthly materials
- Major twister hits Oklahoma: Its speed, which largely determines the damage it causes, is still unknown
FOR KIDS: Where cosmic rays are born
New evidence links origin of these very energetic particles to massive explosions of distant stars
Web edition: February 21, 2013
Enlarge
Shock waves in the clouds of gas around an exploding star (as in this artist’s depiction) create charged particles known as cosmic rays.
Greg Stewart, SLAC Nat'l Accelerator Lab.
About 100 years ago, researchers discovered a large numbers of very small particles slamming into Earth’s upper atmosphere at high speeds. The mystery particles arrived from all directions. They came from an unknown source apparently outside our solar system. Scientists called them “cosmic rays.”
Now, a century later, a team of scientists has found the origins of most cosmic rays. They are born from clouds of gas surrounding the ancient and massive explosions of distant stars.
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