To truly understand the universe we need to look at it in every wavelength , and sometimes that requires some inventive method acting . TheHigh Altitude Water Cherenkov(HAWC ) observatory in Puebla , Mexico is one such object lesson , and it ’s helping scientists to reckon at the universe in gamma rays .
The HAWC observatory has just expel its first sky function , which depict pulsar , supernova oddment , and even flickering black holes . It is sensitive to photon with energies up to 100 teraelectronvolts ( TeV ) , which is over 7 times the Energy Department reached by the particle in the Large Hadron Collider .
“ This is our deepest look at two - thirds of the sky , as well as the highest get-up-and-go photons we ’ve ever interpret from any source , ” said Brenda Dingus , as reported byNew Scientist . She presented the map at theAmerican Physical Societymeeting in Salt Lake City , Utah on April 18 . “ We ’re at the high energy frontier . ”
HAWC ' ’s first gamma electron beam sky map . HWAC Collaboration
HAWC does n’t work like your conventional telescopes , though . rather , it uses theCherenkov radiationeffect . HAWC is made up of 300 water tanks filled with 200,000 liters of pure urine each , and each tank car has sensing element . scientist then use Cherenkov light to reconstruct images from the upstage universe .
When high Department of Energy photons interact with the atmosphere , they give a shower of secondary particles . Those atom are the ones that reach the observatory . These atom are moving at almost the speed of light in a vacuum , but they are moving quicker than the swiftness of lighting in piss . So when they move through the water they emit blue brightness level ( the Cherenkov radiation syndrome ) , like a supersonic jet generates a sonic windfall .
The lookout station form 24 time of day a day and can pick up the changes in brightness in many gamma - ray sources both in our galaxy and beyond . Thanks to this feature , the squad was able to follow a flare from a galaxy called Markarian 501 more than 450 million light - years off .
Over the next five years , this observatory will provide more insight into the da Gamma - irradiation sky and supermassive black hole flares , maybe even observing flare from the snapper of the Milky Way itself .
[ H / T : New Scientist ]
