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Wales Online
Wales Online
National
Neil Shaw

Powerful gamma blast from a dying star has just hit the Earth

The Earth has just been hit by the most powerful blast of gamma rays ever recorded.

The Tibet AS-gamma Experiment detected the burst of high-energy photons hitting our planet from the direction of the Crab Nebula.

The particles were mostly broken down by the atmosphere before reaching the Earth's surface.

Scientists used an array of almost 600 detectors in Tibet and collected gamma ray remnants in 64 concrete barrels full of water.

The photons were measured at 100 tera-electronvolts (TeV), 10 times the maximum energy recorded by the Large Hadron Collider when it is being used to smash particles apart.

It is thought the burst has come from a dying star going nova in the Crab Nebula.

The system is now believed to be home to a rapidly spinning pulsar which is emiting the rays.

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