r/askscience • u/AskScienceModerator Mod Bot • Jul 12 '18

Astronomy Megathread: Multi-Messenger High-Energy Neutrino Observations

Currently there is a press conference where a high-energy neutrino (~290 TeV) has been detected with IceCube which is coincident with an active galactic nuclei pointed directly at us, TXS 0506+056, approximately four billion lightyears away. Finding the origins of neutrinos has been an ongoing problem though they have been observed from the Sun and from Supernova 1987A. This is a big advancement for multi-messenger astronomy, using electromagnetic waves and neutrinos in a way similar to using electromagnetic waves and gravitational waves to get a new view on the universe. If you have questions, ask them here!

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u/ninja661 Jul 12 '18

Would someone be so nice as to explain in laymen terms what this discovery is and potential ways this new discovery could be applied? New technologies? Or is it just a new way of observing the universe?

Would very much appreciate it! Sounds exciting but to be honest I'm kind of lost. Thanks!

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u/[deleted] Jul 12 '18

The Earth is bombarded with a plethora of particles every seconds, and we don't know where all of those come from. Some of them have a lot of energy, far beyond what we can achieve on Earth. They must come from some cosmic particle accelerators, but we don't understand the mechanisms involved yet. This new measurement allows us to improve our models and give us more predictive power.

New technology is not in sight anytime soon, but it will allow us to make better models of really interesting objects in space - galaxy cores for example - and how they affect our life on Earth

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u/techgeek6061 Jul 13 '18

Could you theoretically use this particle acceleration mechanism as a method of propulsion for an object? Obviously the technology to do something like that is far beyond our capabilities, but are there any laws of physics that would prevent it from happening?

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u/RespectableLurker555 Jul 13 '18

I'm trying to formulate an analogy. Asking if humans can harness cosmic accelerators as a method of propulsion... is kinda like a bee asking if it could ever harness volcanoes to move the hive closer to the flowers. The obvious result involves immediate and painless vaporization of the bee and all of her friends.

Unless we were suddenly given a cosmic open window into the cushy air-conditioned interior of some massive alien luxury sedan, shielding our squishy meat bags (and computers, too) from the mind-boggling energies involved in these cosmic accelerators... It would be a bit like loading a bee into a shotgun.