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After searching for decades, scientists have finally detected CNO neutrinos from the Sun.
Yeah, this is a big deal. https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/after-nearly-a-century-elusive-cno-neutrinos-are-finally-seen-from-the-sun
Yeah, this is a big deal. https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/after-nearly-a-century-elusive-cno-neutrinos-are-finally-seen-from-the-sun
2/ The Sun’s energy comes from hydrogen fusing into helium in its core. Most of that (99%) comes from a specific chain of events called the proton-proton chain. Along the way, this makes a LOT of neutrinos, subatomic particles that fly out of the Sun and into space.
3/ 1% of the energy comes from something called the CNO cycle, which stands for carbon-nitrogen-oxygen. It also produces neutrinos, but far fewer.
Neutrinos are the devil’s own game to detect. A trillion of them passed through you as you read this tweet.
Neutrinos are the devil’s own game to detect. A trillion of them passed through you as you read this tweet.
4/ Yet not a single one interacted with you. To them, it’s as if you aren’t there. So scientists have to try REALLY HARD to detect them.
That’s one reason this discovery is a big deal. Just even getting these CNO neutrinos to acknowledge we exist is incredibly hard.
That’s one reason this discovery is a big deal. Just even getting these CNO neutrinos to acknowledge we exist is incredibly hard.
5/ But they did. It confirms not only that the Sun uses the CNO cycle to make energy, but it's at the right proportion to the PP chain (please, just don't; also, those are my initials so I'm watching you 
).
So if it's only 1% of the energy the Sun makes, why is it a big deal?
).So if it's only 1% of the energy the Sun makes, why is it a big deal?
6/ Go outside at night. Look up. See those stars? Almost all the stars you can see are more massive and brighter than the Sun. That's what we call a selection effect; brighter stars are easier to see than dimmer ones, especially from a distance. So most stars you see are massive.
7/ Those stars fuse hydrogen at a higher temperature than the Sun. The CNO cycle is very temperature dependent. It's only 1% of the Sun's energy, but those massive stars get almost if not *all* their energy from it.
We've known this for a while. But it's been theoretical.
We've known this for a while. But it's been theoretical.
8/ Well, not any more. Seeing the CNO neutrinos from the Sun is telling us: Yes, you were right, this is why those massive powerhouse stars shine. The ones that you see, the ones that explode as supernovae, the ones that made the iron in your blood and calcium in your bones.
9/ The CNO cycle is *why you exist*. It's one of the fundamental processes in the Universe, and now we know it actually does happen. I don't think anyone doubted that, but now we have the evidential support. So that's another big deal.
10/ But it also shows us that our physics was right. Our understanding of the weird world of quantum mechanics, of the interiors of stars we can never visit or see, of just what happens when you squeeze all these elements together... it was right.
Our SCIENCE was right.
Our SCIENCE was right.
11/11 So yeah, this is a very big deal. It shows not just that we can find bizarre subatomic beasties flying around the Universe.
It shows that *we knew how and why to look*.
Science! Maybe, just maybe, sometimes we know what we're doing.
https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/after-nearly-a-century-elusive-cno-neutrinos-are-finally-seen-from-the-sun
/fin
It shows that *we knew how and why to look*.
Science! Maybe, just maybe, sometimes we know what we're doing.
https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/after-nearly-a-century-elusive-cno-neutrinos-are-finally-seen-from-the-sun
/fin
