Astronomers have found particle accelerators in deep space that continuously bombard Earth.

Using the Fermi space telescope, astronomers have found that even microquasars, systems where a small black hole consumes a small star, act as powerful natural particle accelerators in space. These charged particles, known as cosmic rays, continuously bombard the Earth. The study is published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, as reported by Space.

Cosmic rays are charged particles, primarily protons and electrons, that perpetually strike our planet. To accelerate these particles, strong magnetic fields, substantial energy, and the presence of the particles themselves are required. According to scientists, relativistic jets from microquasars contain all the necessary components, as the study indicates.

Ordinary quasars are associated with supermassive black holes located at the centers of some galaxies. When black holes actively consume matter and gas, they begin to shine brightly. Thus, quasars are among the brightest sources of light in the universe.

While supermassive black holes can have masses millions to billions of times greater than that of the Sun, the black holes that form microquasars have masses several hundred times that of our star.

Microquasars consist of a black hole and a star that the former consumes. However, unlike the relatively rapid consumption of stars by supermassive black holes, in microquasars, the star is destroyed slowly. As a result of the star's consumption, the black hole emits powerful relativistic jets. Scientists believe that these jets serve as natural particle accelerators in space.

Astronomers reached this conclusion while studying the gamma radiation from the microquasar GRS 1915+105, located in the Milky Way. However, the researchers encountered a surprise. The reason is that this microquasar comprises a black hole with a mass 14 times that of the Sun, which is slowly consuming a star with a mass of about 50% of the Sun's mass.

Previously, it was believed that microquasars capable of accelerating particles must only contain very massive stars in their systems.

This discovery implies that even a system with a black hole slowly consuming a small star can sufficiently accelerate particles to produce gamma radiation. This suggests that the contribution of microquasars, which are abundant in the Milky Way, to the creation of cosmic rays in our galaxy may be greater than scientists had anticipated.