Fresh evidence suggests supernovae are firing out cosmic rays

London, March 10 : Research regarding a star that died 340,000 years ago has provided fresh evidence that the energetic particles known as cosmic rays are being fired out by supernovae.

According to a report in New Scientist, it seems likely that a supernova's shock wave can boost protons to the sort of huge energies found in cosmic rays.

But, direct evidence for this is hard to find, however, as cosmic rays are deflected by magnetic fields and so cannot be easily traced back to their source.

Now, Italian researchers Marco Salvati of Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory in Florence and Bruno Sacco of the National Institute for Astrophysics in Palermo have suggested that an ancient supernova, which created the Geminga pulsar, is responsible for a slight excess in cosmic rays from one part of the sky.

These cosmic rays have been bouncing around for a relatively short time, so their origin can still be pinpointed.

If the observed cosmic ray excess does indeed arise from the Geminga Supernova explosion, the long sought theory connecting cosmic rays with Supernovae would finally be confirmed.

ANI