• Question: Have you noticed any particles fall to Earth from space? If so, what particles are they?

    Asked by maggierider to Francesca, Alan on 11 Mar 2014. This question was also asked by g30rg1n4, .
    • Photo: Alan Fitzsimmons

      Alan Fitzsimmons answered on 11 Mar 2014:

      Francesca looks for particles, I look for bigger things 🙂

      The funny thing is, the cameras we use on telescopes are sensitive to particles coming in from space called cosmic rays. So I see particles from space all the time, but they’re not that special compared to the ones that Francesca looks for.

    • Photo: Francesca Day

      Francesca Day answered on 11 Mar 2014:

      Scientists have seen lots of different particles like cosmic rays and neutrinos from space. The ones I look for are a bit more controversial though! For example, some people in my research group look at light from galaxy clusters (groups hundreds of galaxies all clustered together). We often see more X-rays than we would expect from these galaxy clusters, and some people think this is a sign of a new particle that turns into X-rays. It’s hard to say for sure though because astrophysics is so complicated!

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