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  High-energy cosmic rays come from A*?Mar 17, 2016 11:26 PM PDT | url
 
Added 1 new A* page:A reader linked me to a new article on Ars Technica titled Searching for the particle accelerator at the heart of the Milky Way, which describes a new scientific paper theorizing that the very high-energy cosmic rays (charged protons) we've detected here on Earth from time to time may have come from the supermassive black hole, called Sgr A*, at the center of our galaxy. They tallied gamma rays coming from the core—specifically, those matching the profile of gamma rays thought to be the product of one of these supercharged cosmic ray protons hitting another proton—and found that while a single supernova could produce sufficient energy to account for them, it is unlikely that there are enough supernovae going off to account for the total supply of these cosmic rays seen over time. So, the obvious long-term suspect in the core is A*; it isn't currently active enough to be producing reactions that would create these cosmic rays, but it would just have to swallow a design-sized chunk of matter to create some, so maybe it's a better candidate for producing them over time than sporadic supernovae. It's still just a theory but there you go!
 
 
 
 
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