| 2021-02-26 07:42:44 |
THE QUEST TO UNDERSTAND HOW THUNDERSTORMS CREATE GAMMA RAYS
On top of Kanazawa Izumigaoka High School, the wind whips at researchers Teruaki Enoto and Yuuki Wada as they wrestle with a boxy instrument, trying to secure it to the roof. A nearby weathervane swings ominously and clouds gather over distant mountains, all signs of the storm brewing in the direction of the Sea of Japan. This is exactly the kind of weather Wada
and Enoto are hoping for. The device they are installing will spy on thunderstorms as they spit out γ-radiation — a mysterious process that physicists are eager to understand. As the highest-energy electromagnetic radiation in the Universe, γ-rays typically come from far away — from around black holes, ...Read more...