Chennai: The Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory, the biggest device of its kind, has detected a dozen sources of ultra high-energy gamma rays, according to a study in the journal Nature, from what Cao calls many hot spots, in our Milky Way galaxy.
Gamma rays with such high energy have never been detected before, and the findings suggest these rays can come not just from dying stars, but are also generated inside massive young stars.
These results are really stunning some of the most exciting I have ever seen, said Alan Watson, an astrophysicist working with the Pierre Auger Observatory in Argentina.
Gamma rays are a type of extreme radiation generated by the hottest and brightest explosions in the universe, like when a large star implodes.
The team traced 530 high-energy gamma rays to 12 sources including a massive cluster of young stars called the Cygnus Cocoon and the interstellar cloud called the Crab Nebula.