In a world-first, scientists say they produced an image of the Milky Way not based on electromagnetic radiation — light — but on ghostly subatomic particles called neutrinos.
abc.net.au/news/icecube-detector-finds-neutrinos-from-the-milky-way/102545654Human beings for millennia have gazed with awe at the vast torrent of stars — bright and dim — that comprise the Milky Way.They are high-energy 'ghost' particles that travel straight through matterOur home galaxy, however, is now being observed for the first time in a brand new way.
The study, which was published in the journal Science, said researchers detected high-energy neutrinos in pristine ice deep below Antarctica's surface, then traced their source back to locations in the Milky Way. This view differs fundamentally from what we can see with our own eyes or with instruments that measure other electromagnetic sources like radio waves, microwaves, infrared, ultraviolet, X-rays and gamma-rays.
The neutrinos were detected over a span of a decade at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at a US scientific research station at the South Pole, using more than 5,000 sensors covering an area the size of a small mountain."This observation is groundbreaking. It established the galaxy as a neutrino source. Every future work will refer to this observation," said Georgia Tech physicist Ignacio Taboada, spokesperson for the IceCube research.
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