Cosmic rays are evidence of incredibly powerful astronomical events—solar cosmic rays provide information about eruptions and flares on the sun's surface, while galactic cosmic rays shed light on dying stars.

Antimatter was discovered by examining debris from collisions between atmospheric gases and cosmic rays—high-energy matter particles from space.

Scientists have determined the properties of cosmic rays by analyzing their trajectories in bubble chambers—containers filled with a vapor that clings to charged particles.

Cosmic rays are thought to be accelerated to near the speed of light by repeatedly bouncing across shockwaves produced by high-energy cosmic events, such as supernovae.

Earth's magnetic field, which deflects charged particles, helps protect us from cosmic rays, but the sensitivity of these particles to magnetic fields also makes it difficult for astronomers to determine their sources.

Some cosmic rays possess energies as high as 100,000,000 teraelectron volts—more than 10 million times the energy of particles accelerated in the Large Hadron Collider.

Cosmic rays can be detected using cloud chambers—containers where alcohol vapor condenses around trails of ions created by these high-speed particles from space.

About 10% of the radiation people are exposed to each year comes from outer space, with higher percentages for those living at higher elevations or who fly often.

Learn how to build your own cloud chamber to detect cosmic rays—particles from space that move near the speed of light—at home.

By measuring them in hot-air balloons during a partial solar eclipse and at night, Victor Hess discovered cosmic rays and concluded they came from beyond the solar system.

Particles produced in cosmic ray showers that would normally decay long before they reach Earth's surface are observed in ground-based detectors because they experience time more slowly when moving near the speed of light—a phenomenon predicted by special relativity.

In 1997, the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory identified 'positron geysers'—fountains of antimatter particles—emerging from near the center of the Milky Way.

In 2017, a hidden chamber was found in the Great Pyramid of Giza by measuring particles created in the collisions between cosmic rays and atmospheric particles.

Particle accelerators detect subatomic particles using millions of sensors

Calorimeters measure the energy of particles. Tracking devices can measure momentum and charge from the trajectory of particles, which is determined by recording tiny electrical signals. Time-of-flight detectors provide particle velocities directly and particle mass indirectly, giving physicists a suite of properties to compare with those of known matter.

Each year, the Large Hadron Collider undergoes a winter shutdown—when electricity costs are highest—and bringing it back online requires weeks of tests, including some involving high-energy particles from outer space.

In comic books, cosmic rays have been described as capable of accelerating evolution, granting humans superpowers, restoring health and energy, and powering advanced technology.

Research shows that cosmic rays may trigger the cascade of displaced electrons needed to produce lightning, which is also enabled by pointed ice crystals that create strong electric fields.

If particle accelerators did create black holes by packing tremendous energy into a small volume, then trillions would be created in Earth's atmosphere daily by cosmic rays.

Scientists have tested atmospheric models by firing rockets into the aurora borealis

Functioning like components of a CT scan, the missiles transmit signals that can be used to identify charged particles and electromagnetic currents in slices. The slices are then combined to construct a computer-based model of Earth's atmospheric structure, which is used to compare the accuracy of physics-based models.

Tom Liggett, a Bournemouth University student, sent sealed photographic film into space using a helium balloon, producing photographs from cosmic rays.

A composite of telescope images of the sun, which each reveal unique solar features

While traditional cameras can reveal sunspots—cooler regions on the sun's surface—in visible light, x-ray detectors can highlight explosions of high-energy plasma and magnetic fields known as coronal mass ejections. Hydrogen-alpha filters can reveal clouds and filaments of material suspended in magnetic fields above the sun's surface.

Cosmogenic nuclide dating reveals how long a surface has been exposed to air by measuring the abundance of rare isotopes produced when cosmic rays interact with minerals.

Particle detection has evolved from cloud and bubble chambers to digital 3D displays

As invisible particles passed through cloud and bubble chambers, they disrupted supersaturated vapor and superheated liquid, respectively, creating trails that served as proxies for cosmic rays. The transition from photographed events to digital sensors enhanced data collection and accuracy.

Interactions between solar storms and Earth's magnetic field create auroras

Solar storms on the Sun's surface produce clouds of electrically charged particles, some of which make their way to Earth. Those trapped in Earth's magnetic field accelerate toward the north and south poles, colliding with atmospheric atoms and molecules in the process, which produces light.

As seen in the dark region of the Horsehead Nebula, clouds of space dust can block some forms of light from reaching telescopes, impairing observations and data collection.

Space weather phenomena, including solar flares, coronal mass ejections, and solar wind, are driven by the sun's magnetic field and can affect Earth's ground- and space-based technological systems.

Delays in the decay of unstable particles provide evidence for time dilation

Physicists used the muon half-life measured in labs to predict how many should reach detectors on Earth's surface after their production in collisions between atmospheric molecules and cosmic rays. Higher detection rates were consistent with a longer half-life due to slower movement through time.

Explaining pulsars, the cosmic clocks and lighthouses of the universe

As of 2023, over 3,000 of these rapidly rotating neutron stars have been discovered, which contain magnetic fields along which energized particles accelerate and emit light, including X-rays, gamma rays, visible light, and, most commonly, radio waves. The fastest of these, PSR J1748–2446ad, rotates 716 times per second, meaning its surface equator moves at about 24% the speed of light.

Understanding why charged particles from the sun protect Earth from more dangerous particles

The solar wind engulfs the solar system in a protective bubble called the heliosphere, which was first theorized in the late 1950s based on studies of cosmic rays—high-energy particles traveling through space at near light speed. The heliosphere shields the solar system from much of this ionizing radiation originating elsewhere in the Milky Way.

Antimatter can be created from dark lightning—high-energy light emitted by deflected electrons after they are accelerated to near the speed of light by thunderstorms.

View summaries of the most common types of radioactive decay and their associated particles

The alpha particle has the strongest ability to ionize other atoms it strikes, but it also does not travel very far before colliding with something and being absorbed. Gamma particles—high-energy photons—do not interact with matter as easily and therefore possess the greatest penetrating power, though this also makes their ionizing potential the smallest.

Coronal mass ejections and solar flares produce the most extensive auroras

The most intense geomagnetic storms are produced when massive clouds of plasma—ionized gas—are expelled from the sun's upper atmosphere and interact with the Earth's magnetic field. These storms expand where auroras are bright enough to be seen to regions farther from the poles, particularly during peak periods of the sun's 11-year intensity cycle.

Before 1932, when particle accelerators were first used for nuclear research, scientists relied on naturally radioactive substances to advance their understanding of the atomic nucleus.

Unlike the other major detectors at the Large Hadron Collider, the Compact Muon Solenoid—one of two general-purpose detectors—was built above ground and then lowered underground in sections for reassembly.

Learn about five of the largest particle accelerators on Earth, which, as of 2026, are led by the Large Hadron Collider at the European Organization for Nuclear Research.

The deaths of massive stars and the mergers of neutron stars and black holes can produce gamma-ray bursts—jets of particles moving in opposite directions at near-light speed that comprise the universe's most powerful explosions.

The European Space Agency's Euclid telescope maps dark matter

As light rays travel near massive objects in space, their paths can be distorted on their way to Earth, causing objects to appear displaced, magnified, shrunken, or sheared. By simulating these effects for various mass distributions, astronomers can match the distortion to a simulated mass and compare it with the observed visible matter to infer the presence of dark matter.

View historical records of solar observations and discoveries, from telescopes in the early 1600s revealing sunspots to NASA's Parker Solar Probe photographing the sun from within its outer corona in 2025.

Listen to the sounds of pulsars, which emit radio pulses up to hundreds of times a second

Just as figure skaters spin faster by tucking in their arms, these celestial objects acquire high rates of spin from the collapse of the cores of massive stars. The star's rotation spins its magnetic field, generating beams of radio waves from its magnetic poles. If either of these poles faces a detector, the signals can be picked up and converted to audio signals.

What are pulsars?

Pulsars are neutron stars created as part of stellar evolution and emit radiation beams visible from Earth. These beams pulse like a lighthouse's light due to the star's rotation, creating periodic high-energy emissions. Pulsars were first discovered as radio sources; it was also discovered they emit gamma rays. NASA uses its Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope to retrieve and analyze data from pulsars.

Since computers rely on the distribution of electrons in microchips to represent binary code, cosmic rays and ionizing radiation from radioactive elements can introduce software errors by detaching electrons from atoms.

High solar activity can produce pink and purple auroras

Although less common, energetic enough charged particles from the sun that descend to an altitude of about 100 kilometers (62 miles) can strike a mixture of ionized and neutral nitrogen molecules, causing them to emit red and blue light, which our eyes perceive as purple.

Particle accelerators propel matter toward small targets at high speed

Devices like cathode-ray tube televisions were once basic particle accelerators, but modern ones, such as the Large Hadron Collider, use massive magnetic fields and circular tunnels to achieve energies high enough to recreate the conditions just after the big bang.

By separating light with tools such as prisms, scientists can reveal the presence and composition of celestial matter by identifying color fingerprints unique to specific elements and molecules.

Scientists can map Earth's shape and structure by measuring the ratios of certain particles arriving from different directions in space, as these ratios change with the density of the material particles travel through.

Learn about solar neutrinos—about 70 billion of which pass through your thumbnail every second

About 100 quadrillion sextillion (10³⁸) of these elusive particles are created in the core every second, making up about 1% of the sun's total energy output. Because they seldom interact with normal matter, highly specialized equipment is needed to detect them, allowing scientists to probe what is happening in the solar core.

Neutron star types, categorized by the presence of strong magnetic fields and radiation beams

Magnetars have magnetic fields about 1,000 times stronger than the average neutron star—roughly a trillion times stronger than Earth's. Pulsars emit beams of radiation from their magnetic poles, which appear as flickering radio wave signals as the object spins.

How atomic clocks have been used to measure the universe's fundamental constants

Atoms behave according to a set of parameters that scientists have determined give reality its properties. For example, the fine-structure constant, α, quantifies the strength of interactions between charged particles. Since the light emitted by atoms as they move between energy levels is affected by α, analyzing these emissions—the basis of atomic clocks—using different atoms helps calculate α.

Voyager science teams still collect valuable space data using four active tools

These instruments track magnetic fields, solar wind particles, radio emissions from the heliopause, and hydrogen levels in the outer heliosphere. Even though each Voyager sends data at just 160 bits per second, NASA receives 6–8 hours of tracking data daily.

A beam of neutrinos can be created by firing a beam of high-energy protons at a target to produce unstable particles that decay into neutrinos.

Earth's magnetic field can trap high-energy charged particles produced by the sun and distant cosmic events in doughnut-shaped rings called Van Allen belts.