Gamma rays carry super energy coming from the other side of the universe

International scientists detect ultra-high-energy gamma rays coming from a galaxy 7.6 billion light years from Earth.

According to a study published in Astrophysical Journal Letter on December 15, the Fermi space telescope of the US Aerospace Agency (NASA) recorded a rare event from space: a gamma ray explosion Across the universe.

According to Tech Times, the highest energy gamma ray detection scientists have ever come from a distant galaxy called PKS 1441 + 25 . This active galaxy glows with the energy emitted by the supermassive black hole, surrounded by a hot belt of dust and gas. PKS 1441 + 25 is located far from the solar system and has a distance of 7.6 billion light years to Earth. The black hole of this galaxy is estimated to be 70 million times more massive than the Sun.

The light from PKS 1441 + 25 was recorded by Luigi Pacciani at the Italian Astronomical Institute. Data from Fermi show that gamma rays have energies of up to 33 billion eV, the highest level in the telescope's detection range. Meanwhile, the energy in visible light is only about 2-3 eV.

Gamma rays from PKS 1441 + 25 take 7.6 billion light-years to reach Earth.(Photo: M. Weiss / CfA).

In another observation, the team belongs to the MAGIC (Major Atmospheric Gamma-ray Imaging Cherenkov) project to find gamma rays with energies between 40 and 250 billion eV.

"Because this galaxy is so far away, we don't expect to be able to detect such high-energy gamma rays," NASA said.

According to NASA, this finding is surprising because the distance plays a very important role in detecting gamma rays with super high energy. They will become normal particles when colliding with light with lower energy.

To better understand the distance and age of these gamma rays, scientists emphasized the universe spanning 14 billion years and the Earth has existed for 4.5 billion years. This means gamma rays are half the age of the universe and are born from the other half of the universe.

In the long journey to reach the telescope on Earth, these gamma rays must pass through the outer galactic light (EBL) , the type of light remaining to form a loose photon network. When a gamma ray passes through light from the star, it converts into two types of particles, electrons and positrons, which become invisible to astronomers. This makes it difficult to detect and measure them.

VERITAS telescope (Very Energetic Radiation Telescope Array System) in Arizona, USA, then also recorded gamma rays with energies of approximately 200 billion eV. The PKS 1441 + 25 galaxy is one of two gamma ray sources that carry energy in excess of 100 billion eV discovered so far.