Deep underground, a telescope may soon detect ghosts of stars that died before Earth existed

This article was originally published in The conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com. Expert voices: opinion articles and opinions.

Pablo Martínez Miravé He is a postdoctoral fellow in Theoretical Particle Astrophysics at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen.

Imagine looking up into the night sky and seeing a star suddenly burst into a blaze of light brighter than anything nearby. A flash so bright that it briefly eclipses an entire galaxy before fading forever.

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This violent fate is rare: less than about 1% of stars They are old enough to end their lives this way. In fact, these dramatic explosions only occur in the so-called “massive stars”. These are stars with a mass approximately eight or more times that of the Sun.

But these cosmic explosions, known as supernovasnaturally they have fascinated astronomers for centuries. In 1572, for example, the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe observed a supernova explosion so bright that it could be seen with the naked eye for two years.

However, what we can see with our eyes, or even with powerful telescopes, when these stars die, is only a small fraction of the story. Because most of the energy of a supernova is carried away by neutrinosThese are almost invisible particles often called “ghost particles” because they go through almost everything in their path.

Scientists are finally about to see these ghostly messengers. With the help of an extremely powerful telescope buried deep underground In Japan, astronomers will be able to glimpse these stellar “ghosts” and, with them, the remnants of exploding stars that died 10 billion years ago.

Particles from before time.

And there’s a good chance that scientists will finally be able to see these ghost particles this year. This is largely due to The Japanese Super-Kamiokande Telescope receiving an upgrade, which significantly improves its ability to detect supernova neutrinos.

For me, as a particle astrophysicist, this would probably be one of the most exciting scientific achievements of my life. In fact, it would mean we could see particles that were produced before Earth even existed, as the telescope is now sensitive enough to pick up the faint “glow” from all the exploding stars in the universe.

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All of this is possible because neutrinos almost never interact with anything. They have no electrical charge. So they can travel through space – and even across entire planets – without being absorbed or scattered, so almost nothing can stop them.

In fact, billions of these ghostly particles are passing through your body every second – and you don’t even realize it – and some of them have traveled for more than 10 billion years to get here.

When a star dies

Big ideas raise big questions, and one of those questions astrophysicists are trying to solve is what’s left after the explosion or such a star.

Does the collapsing core become a black hole? Or does it form a different type of star known as neutron star, Which then slowly cools over time? A neutron star is an incredibly dense object, only 20 kilometers (12 miles) in diameter, about the size of a large city or about the length of Manhattan.

If scientists are able to detect the combined signal from all the supernovae that have ever occurred, we would be closer to answering these questions. It would also allow us to study the death of stars throughout the entire history of the universe, using particles that have been traveling towards us for billions of years without ever stopping.

Supernovae are rare in our galaxy, occurring only once every few decades. But throughout the universe, a massive star explodes in a supernova about once every second. When they explode they release enormous energy: only about 1% is visible lightwhile 99% escapes in the form of neutrinos.

Although these neutrinos are almost invisible, they contain the history of every star that has ever exploded and now, for the first time, we may be able to capture them.

So, if the first clear detection occurs in 2026, it will mark a new era in astronomy. For the first time, we will not only observe the brilliant explosions of nearby stars, but also the collective history of all the massive stars that have ever lived and died.

And it all begins with a telescope buried deep in Japan, patiently observing the faint, ghostly glow of the universe’s oldest explosions.