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Credit & Copyright: DESY,
Science Communication Lab
Explanation:
With equipment frozen deep into ice beneath Earth's South Pole,
humanity appears to have discovered a
neutrino
from far across the universe.
If confirmed, this would mark the first clear
detection
of cosmologically-distant neutrinos and the dawn of an
observed association
between energetic neutrinos and
cosmic rays
created by powerful jets emanating from blazing quasars
(blazars).
Once the Antarctican
IceCube detector measured an energetic neutrino
in 2017 September, many of humanity's premier observatories sprang into action to
try to identify a counterpart in
light.
And they did.
An erupting counterpart was pinpointed by high energy observatories including
AGILE,
Fermi,
HAWC,
H.E.S.S.,
INTEGRAL,
NuSTAR,
Swift, and
VERITAS,
which found that gamma-ray blazar
TXS 0506+056
was in the right direction and with
gamma-rays from a
flare
arriving
nearly coincidental in time with the neutrino.
Even though this and other
position and time coincidences are statistically strong, astronomers will await
other similar neutrino - blazar light associations to be absolutely sure.
Pictured here is an artist's drawing of a
particle
jet
emanating from a black hole at the center of a blazar.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: neutrino - quasar
Publications with words: neutrino - quasar
See also: