On Earth, the Large Hadron Collider can smash atoms together and accelerate particles to near light speeds — but in space, there are high-energy cosmic rays with over 10 million times more power than even those zippy particles. And now, new research suggests such cosmic rays may hide a secret that is the key to unlocking a 60-year-old space puzzle.
One of these cosmic rays for instance, dubbed the Amaterasu particle (after the Japanese sun goddess) slammed into Earth in 2021 with an energy 40 million times greater than particles slammed together at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Amaterasu is considered the second most powerful cosmic ray ever detected — after the aptly named "Oh-My-God particle" detected back in 1991. However, the origins of these particles, and the sources that accelerated them to such high energies, are shrouded in mystery.
