Some of this radiation is continuously emitted from the Sun’s corona, which led scientists to call it the ‘solar wind’.
Solar cosmic radiation is composed of charged particles emitted by the Sun, predominantly electrons, protons and helium nuclei. The Earth is constantly exposed to galactic cosmic radiation. In essence, supernovas act like huge, natural particle accelerators. The energy released in these explosions accelerates charged particles outside our solar system, making them highly penetrating and extremely hard to shield. Galactic cosmic radiation comes from the remnants of supernovas, which are powerful explosions during the last stages of massive stars that either collapse to black holes or are destroyed. They travel at nearly the speed of light, which is approximately 300 000 kilometres per second.Ĭosmic rays are of two kinds: galactic and solar. In this article, we explore what it is, why we are protected from it on Earth, how it affects people in specific jobs, and how it can even help advance technology for cancer treatment.Ĭosmic rays are extremely high-energy subatomic particles – mostly protons and atomic nuclei accompanied by electromagnetic emissions – that move through space, eventually bombarding the Earth’s surface. Cosmic radiation is what it sounds like: radiation from space.
