“This is a big step for neutrino astronomy.'
We’ve learned to observe the Milky Way in a lot of different ways. Of course, traditional telescopes use visible light—but those only allow us to see so far out. Eventually, objects are too far away and obstacles like gas and dust obstruct our views. That’s why we use different, more powerful instruments.
Neutrinos are created by natural radioactive decay from phenomena like the nuclear reactions occurring constantly on the sun, and even the more banal processes breakdown of potassium in an old banana. However, astrophysicists have been able to detect powerful, high-energy neutrinos that they believe come from violent astrophysical events like supernovas and stars colliding. These can be used to peer even further into our galaxy than ever before.
“This is a big step for neutrino astronomy,” Larson told The Daily Beast. “We've known about nutrients from astrophysical sources for decades now. We've seen neutrinos from the sun going back ages. And this is the first time that we've actually been able to identify the source of neutrinos from our galaxy.”
Put that box in a bigger box made of lead, though, and that machine won’t be able to do a single thing. That’s because lead is very dense and absorbs the X-rays as it attempts to pass through it. So it’s much harder to see through the box.
“Earth is constantly bombarded by these cosmic rays producing what's what's called an air shower,” Larson explained. “It's effectively the cosmic ray hitting our atmosphere and producing a shower of particles that can reach and really penetrate the ground. They’re difficult to get rid of, because there's so many of them.”
While this discovery is momentous and marks a new way of studying the universe, the team is quick to point out that it’s just the beginning. More work needs to be done to understand the signals that astronomers can now observe from the galaxy and one day nail down its source. That requires not only refining the science behind it, but also upgrading and expanding technologies like the IceCube Neutrino Observatory.
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