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Cosmic neutrinos: new source discovered

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The international IceCube experiment , located in the ice of the South Pole, has discovered a new source of cosmic neutrinos . This is the galaxy NGC 1068 , also known as Messier 77, one of the closest to us and the most studied in which there is a supermassive black hole .

The galaxy has different characteristics than the TXS 0506 + 56 galaxy , the first source of cosmic neutrinos discovered in 2018, which contains a supermassive black hole at its center. The different characteristics of these galaxies have made it possible to determine the existence of different types of cosmic neutrino sources. The study was published in the journal Science .

In 2018, the IceCube telescope detected the presence of the first neutrino source at a distance of 4 billion light years from our planet. The jets of particles emitted by the black hole were directed towards the Earth, making neutrinos and gamma rays easily observable in a short period of time. The new galaxy, although closer to us, is oriented in such a way that the central region from which the emissions originate is not directly observable due to the dust. This leads to an absorption of gamma rays and neutrinos can escape.

We are peering into the active regions of the galaxy NGC 1068 47 million light years away. By observing the neutrinos it emits, we will be able to better understand the extreme processes of production and acceleration of particles that take place inside the galaxy, which has been impossible so far because other high-energy emissions cannot get out of it. After the excitement in 2018 for the discovery of neutrinos from TXS 0506 + 056, it is even more exciting to find a source that produces a continuous jet of neutrinos that we can see with IceCube.

Gary Hill, physicist at the University of Adelaide in Australia and member of the international IceCube collaboration

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