Wanted: Amateur Stargazers To Help Solve Supernova Mystery
Space Ref
_______
Columbus, Ohio (US):
Ohio State University scientists have thought of a new way to solve an astronomical mystery, and their plan relies on a well-connected network of amateur stargazers and one very elusive subatomic particle.
To understand what happens inside exploding stars, or supernovae, scientists need to study particles called neutrinos, explained John Beacom, assistant professor of physics and astronomy at Ohio State.
Neutrinos are formed in the nuclear reactions that make stars like our sun shine. Exploding stars overflow with the particles, and flood the universe with them. Neutrinos should be everywhere, but they are very hard to detect - so hard to detect, in fact, that even though countless neutrinos burrow through our planet every second, scientists only capture a few of them each day.
Scientists know that most neutrinos they do detect probably come from our own sun, from nuclear reactors in terrestrial power plants, or from cosmic radiation interacting with our atmosphere. There has been no way to distinguish whether a particular neutrino came from elsewhere, until now. That's why Beacom and his team's discovery - that each year, one or two of the neutrinos detected on Earth can probably be matched to the exploding star that made them - represents a major step forward for supernova astrophysics.
Dec 19, 2005
Space Ref
_______
Columbus, Ohio (US):
Ohio State University scientists have thought of a new way to solve an astronomical mystery, and their plan relies on a well-connected network of amateur stargazers and one very elusive subatomic particle.
To understand what happens inside exploding stars, or supernovae, scientists need to study particles called neutrinos, explained John Beacom, assistant professor of physics and astronomy at Ohio State.
Neutrinos are formed in the nuclear reactions that make stars like our sun shine. Exploding stars overflow with the particles, and flood the universe with them. Neutrinos should be everywhere, but they are very hard to detect - so hard to detect, in fact, that even though countless neutrinos burrow through our planet every second, scientists only capture a few of them each day.
Scientists know that most neutrinos they do detect probably come from our own sun, from nuclear reactors in terrestrial power plants, or from cosmic radiation interacting with our atmosphere. There has been no way to distinguish whether a particular neutrino came from elsewhere, until now. That's why Beacom and his team's discovery - that each year, one or two of the neutrinos detected on Earth can probably be matched to the exploding star that made them - represents a major step forward for supernova astrophysics.
Dec 19, 2005
