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Just as astronomers use telescopes that observe the light from stars to explore & explain the universe, scientists have set up massive telescopes deep in water & ice to measure #neutrino. These cosmic messengers can travel undisturbed over vast distances, carrying information about mysterious high-#energy events that generate them.

“It’s incredible, right?” #neutrino physicist Paschal Coyle, a member of the #KM3Net team that did the research, said. “There are these objects in the #universe that can accelerate particles to such extreme energies. How that’s done, we don’t completely understand yet. So every piece of information that gives us a clue of the processes involved in achieving such high #energy — this is one of the main goals of #astronomy.”

In this case, one possibility is that a very energetic cosmic ray interacted w/the cosmic microwave background [leftover radiation from the #BigBang] & produced this #neutrino. Another is that the particle was created when a “#blazar,” a #galaxy w/a #SupermassiveBlackHole at its center, gobbled up stars. But the debate is only beginning.

Stephanie Wissel, a PennState neutrino physicist, not involved in the research, called it a “knock your socks off” observation & a remarkable stroke of luck.

The neutrino left its trail while the observatory, #ARCA, anchored deep in the Mediterranean Sea, was still under construction.

“We’ve never seen a #neutrino this energetic, & we have been looking for them for a few decades now,” Wissel said. “We’re trying to understand what the #universe is capable of & how it does it — & this one neutrino is exciting.”