Scientists find new doorway to origins of universe

South Pole, a command center at Pennsylvania State University, advanced satellites, and several land-based observatories, a team of hundreds was able to pinpoint the first known cosmic source of a special kind of neutrino, a particle that passes through virtually all matter on Earth.

Using neutrinos marks the beginning of a new era of astrophysical research that doesn’t rely solely on light, said France Cordova, director of the National Science Foundation, in a statement. The findings were published as two articles in Science on Thursday.

It turns out the first known source of high-energy neutrinos is one of the most recognizable constellations in the sky: Orion, the archer.

Just off Orion’s left shoulder, some 3.8 billion light-years away, floats a galaxy that is being sucked into a supermassive black hole. As that galaxy’s gas, dust, stars and possible planets grind together, jets of X-rays, radio waves and ultra-high energy particles blast out. This past Sept. 22, a single high-energy neutrino from that site banged into detectors buried more than a kilometer underground at the South Pole. That kickstarted a flurry of activity in more than a dozen countries.

Neutrinos will help “complete the picture of the universe,” said Azadeh Keivani, an astrophysicist at Columbia University. “But we have to collaborate more. We are just at the beginning.”