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Space

Astronomers have spotted inexplicably bright light coming from the sun

Extraordinarily high-energy gamma rays have been found emanating from the sun, and none of our theoretical models can explain why there are so many of them

By Leah Crane

3 August 2023

Some sunlight is more energetic than it should be

Some of the light from the sun is more energetic than it should be

Shutterstock/Lukasz Pawel Szczepanski

The highest-energy sunlight is too bright. Astronomers have detected gamma rays coming from the sun that are more energetic than any we have seen before, and there are more of them than any of our models of the sun can account for.

Many of the gamma rays we see coming from the sun are produced by cosmic rays, which are charged particles that hurtle through space at incredible speeds. When cosmic rays hit the sun, the …

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