Discovered: Cosmic Rays from a Mysterious, Nearby Object

Nov. 19, 2008: An international team of researchers has discovered a puzzling surplus of high-energy electrons bombarding Earth from space. The source of these cosmic rays is unknown, but it must be close to the solar system and it could be made of dark matter. Their results are being reported in the Nov. 20th issue of the journal Nature.

"This is a big discovery," says co-author John Wefel of Louisiana State University. "It's the first time we've seen a discrete source of accelerated cosmic rays standing out from the general galactic background."

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/19nov_cosmicrays.htm?list888306

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap060814.html