Scientists find particles of ultrahigh energy in Milky Way

A Chinese cosmic ray observatory has found 12 sources of ultrahigh-energy photons and detected a photon with a record-breaking energy level of 1.4 peta-electron volt, or 1.4 million billion electron volts, according to a study published in the journal Nature on Monday.

Experts called these findings exciting, describing them as opening a new chapter in mankind's astronomical study of the most energetic particles in the universe, whose origins and acceleration mechanisms have fascinated and baffled scientists for over a century.

In April last year, Wang Lingyu, an associate professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of High Energy Physics, was checking data collected by the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory, or LHAASO, when she discovered something surprising, according to China Science Daily, the official newspaper of the academy.