Scientists find 'ghost particles' spewing from our Milky Way galaxy in landmark discovery (video)

[Judi Lynn]

1. Neutrino map of the galaxy is 1st view of the Milky Way in 'anything other than light'

By Charles Q. Choi published 1 day ago
'This observation of high-energy neutrinos opens up an entirely new window to study the properties of our host galaxy.'



IceCube Neutrino Observatory sits beneath a green aurora in the icy Antarctic (Image credit: IceCube/ NSF)

Scientists have traced the galactic origins of thousands of "ghost particles" known as neutrinos to create the first-ever portrait of the Milky Way made from matter and not light — and it's given them a brand-new way to study the universe.

The groundbreaking image was snapped by capturing the neutrinos as they fell through the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, a gigantic detector buried deep inside the South Pole's ice.

Neutrinos earn their spooky nickname because their nonexistent electrical charge and almost-zero mass mean they barely interact with other types of matter. As such, neutrinos fly straight through regular matter at close to the speed of light.

Yet by slowing these neutrinos, physicists have finally traced the particles' origins billions of light-years away to ancient, cataclysmic stellar explosions and cosmic-ray collisions. The researchers published their findings June 29 in the journal Science.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/physics-mathematics/particle-physics/ghost-particle-image-is-the-1st-view-of-our-galaxy-in-anything-other-than-light