Cosmic Rays were in the news again, this time in an in-depth article from Vox, which talked about many of the biggest cosmic ray research projects in the world, including the Telescope Array Project.
Cosmic rays are still one of the most mysterious phenomena in the universe, but unlike many enigmatic astrophysical phenomena that only exist in the depths of space, cosmic rays are all around us all the time. The article gave a broad overview of the current state of cosmic ray research and the many different research projects that are currently trying to unravel the mysteries surrounding these particles. These projects included the IceCube Neutrino Detector, which buries its detectors deep in the Antarctic Ice to filter out all the particles other than neutrinos; the Pierre Auger Observatory, which detects particles that pass through large tanks of water; and the Telescope Array Project, which uses a ground array of scintillator detectors to reveal cosmic rays as they hit the ground.
The article also mentions the Telescope Array's use of fluorescence detectors, speaking with TA's Charlie Jui about the process:
The observatory can also do something cool. On very clear, dark nights in the Utah desert, it can actually see the faint trails of cosmic rays lighting up in our atmosphere.
“The idea is that you can see the air shower develop in the atmosphere using ultraviolet cameras,” Jui says. “These are cameras that are taking videos, over a few microseconds, ten frames a microsecond [that’s extreme slow motion], and then you can actually see the extended line in the sky, and measure the [cosmic ray’s] energy from that.”
The interview with Dr Jui also made the rounds on several other science news outlets, including Sputnik.
The full article can be found here.
PDF Version
The Sputnik article can be found here.
PDF Version
