By: Brady Cheng

Ghostly particles from space are showing us a new view of the galaxy.

Known as neutrinos, these small particles have little mass and no electric charge. They’re sometimes called “ghost particles”. That’s because they easily pass without a trace through gas, dust, and even stars.

Researchers have now found the first signs of high-energy neutrinos coming from our Milky Way. “They mapped the particles to create a new image of our galaxy. It’s the first made with something other than light.” says James R Riordon, the author of the article. The map also hints at the possible sources of the neutrinos. “They could be the remains of past supernovas — star explosions. Or they might come from the cores of collapsed supergiant stars or other unidentified objects.” says the article. Since scientists are not sure yet, they have to do more research to figure out the sources of these particles.

The ability of neutrinos to pass through things so easily also makes them extremely hard to detect. So some scientists made a detector named IceCube that is embedded deep in the ice in Antarctica. “Scientists found the Milky Way particles using a neutrino detector in Antarctica. Called IceCube, this detector is embedded deep in the ice. To better detect ghostly neutrinos, it’s enormous. Its 5,160 sensors are arranged in a cube one kilometer (3,281 feet) on each side.” says Riordon. This detector helped find neutrinos easier. But even so, this is only a tiny share of all the neutrinos.

“Most of the neutrino signals that IceCube picks up, though, are a type called a cascade event,” says Riordon.

Now that the world is evolving, unknown before now known high-energy neutrinos zip everywhere throughout the cosmos, carrying information about distant places.