stripes" in the remains of an exploded star may help astronomers learn how some of the highest-energy particles in our galaxy reach their incredible speeds, a new study suggests.
NASA'sspacecraft detected a suprisingly regular pattern of X-rays in a well-known supernova remnant called Tycho. The new observations provide the first direct evidence that a cosmic event can rocket particles to energies 100 times higher than those achieved by Earth's most powerful accelerators, researchers said.
The find may also help scientists figure out how some of those super-speedy particles — which are known as cosmic rays, and constantly bombard Earth— are produced, they added.
"We’ve seen lots of intriguing structures in supernova remnants, but we’ve never seen stripes before," said study leader Kristoffer Eriksen of Rutgers University in a statement. "This made us think very hard about what’s happening in the blast wave of this powerful explosion." []
Staring at an exploded star
Theremnantis located in our own Milky Way galaxy, about 13,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cassiopeia.
It's named for the , who reported observing the supernova in 1572. The event likely occurred when a white dwarf star grew so much in mass that it eventually exploded in a so-called Type Ia supernova, researchers said.
Chandra peered at the supernova remnant for more than 200 hours back in 2009. Over these extended observations, the spacecraft picked up some strange X-ray stripes in Tycho.
These stripes provide support for a theory about how exploding starsto incredible energies, researchers said.
A supernova shock wave
When a star explodes, it creates a fast-moving shock wave that spreads through space. High-energy charg
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