The Most Energetic Ghost Particle Ever Seen

The elliptical galaxy M87 emitting a relativistic jet. When the jet points at Earth it is classed as a blazar and it is these that are thought to have generated some of the most energetic particle yet. (Credit : NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team)

Three years ago, a detector sitting on the floor of the Mediterranean Sea recorded a single subatomic particle carrying more energy than anything of its kind ever seen before. Where it came from has been a mystery ever since. Now, scientists working with the KM3NeT detector off the coast of Sicily think they may have found the culprit, a population of blazars, some of the most violent objects in the universe, each one powered by a supermassive black hole firing a jet of plasma directly toward Earth.

Universe Today
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