Seven "Ghost Particles" Detected Streaming Through Earth. What They Are

Astronomers have discovered seven elusive “ghost particles” piercing through Earth

Scientists working at the IceCube Observatory have detected seven rarely-seen “ghost particle” candidates piercing through Earth. The Observatory buried deep inside the ice of the southern pole of the Antarctic witnessed the phenomena after 9.7 years. These ghost particles, also known as astrophysical tau neutrinos, work like messengers between powerful celestial events and humans. Neutrinos have zero mass and lack any charge. They can travel through space at a speed similar to that of light. Because of their parameters, neutrinos hardly interact with anything they come across. 

Every second, almost 100 trillion neutrinos cuts through our bodies. But their lightning speed renders it impossible for us to notice, justifying the reason behind their ghostly nickname. In fact, even if you were a human-sized neutrino detector, it would take around a century for the particle to forge some sort of interaction with your body. 

Astrophysical neutrinos are high-energy neutrinos that come from cosmic sources near the brink of the Milky Way, which were first detected by the Observatory in 2013. Now, with the spotting of the astrophysical tau neutrinos, astronomers have found a new variation of the cosmic messenger.