Feature Space

Cosmic mystery

High-energy invaders from space could signal a nearby pulsar, or perhaps dark matter

By Susan Gaidos

- More than 2 years ago

There’s an air of excitement in the astrophysics community, created by a surplus of particles from space invading Earth’s atmosphere.

COSMIC RAYS | Two experiments have detected unusual patterns in cosmic rays pouring into Earth’s atmosphere. One possible source of the unusual rays, which are actually particles, could be a supernova and its cone of ejected material, illustrated here.