A week or so ago astronomers using Argentina’s huge new Pierre Auger Observatory array published that they have a convincing end to an old mystery. Certain, bafflingly-energetic cosmic rays seem to cluster their direction of origin near galaxies with active nuclei powered by enormous black holes. Ergo, the black holes make them with their sloppy eating habits. Such rays get their paths fiddled and faddled (a coinage from a certain Woody the Woodpecker kid’s book) by intervening magnetic fields, so they don’t come here on straight lines. Still, the clustering seemed persuasive.
This week at Nature‘s news site Katharine Sanderson reports there are a few holes left in the case. At least, scientists using the smaller old Fly’s Eye array in Utah tried the same statistical mixmaster on their accumulated data and see no such correlation. But, she reports, the Auger array is getting better, its statistics more robust, so an answer ought to come along soon enough.
Not sure what Thaindian news is, but it has much the same story, too.
-CP
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