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The Earth is constantly bombarded by cosmic rays from our galaxy. However, a type of cosmic ray with ultra-high energies was discovered 95 years ago. Scientists didn't know where these cosmic rays came from because particles outside the galaxy can't travel far enough to hit Earth. Now they believe that the cosmic rays come from energy that escaped from a black hole.
No, the Silver Surfer doesn't have anything to do with it; aren't Black Holes cool enough as they are without having a silver dude surfing in? Anyhow a black hole sucks stuff up so that nothing escapes. That's what it does. Sometimes though, particles (those lucky, lucky particles) from objects (an unlucky sun maybe?) escape just before they're sucked in.
These particles are catapulted and travel with the force of a rifle shot and tears through the universe. The reason they don't lose energy before they hit out planet (around 250 million light years away from its source) is because they hit other particles and give it the same punch and eventually the particles hit Earth.
Scientists were able to theorize that the particles came from black holes by tracking the direction with which the particle traveled. It's unlikely you'll be hit by a particle though. They only hit the Earth about once per square mile per century so you don't have to worry about buying a cosmic-ray-proof umbrella.
If you're wondering about the image, it's a map of the celestial sphere. The cosmic ray particles the scientists tracked come from 27 areas in the sphere, where they escaped from black holes.
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