Cosmic Rays in Hessdalen - Hessdalen Germany

Cosmic Rays

Cosmic Ray Gallery

Longtime exposures from Hessdalen are regularly showing elongated pixel artefacts. Such artefacts occur, when secondary particles from cosmic radiation hit the image sensor. At sea level approximately 100 particles per second occur per square meter. Very rarely these particles interact with the image sensor and produce artefacts. The particles are not entering through the lens but through the camera body.

Cosmic ray artefacts are well known in astrophotography. They appear around the globe and increase with rising altitude. Why are these artefacts so often discovered on photographs from Hessdalen?

Hypothesis1: Photographs from Hessdalen are exceptionally well screened and therefore more artefacts are discovered.

Hypothesis 2: The radiation in Hessdalen is higher than in other regions of similar altitude.

Hypothesis 2 can easily be tested by running a camera over a longer period of time with the lens cap attached. For validation the test must be repeated in a region outside Hessdalen with comparable altitude. If there are significantly more artefacts in the Hessdalen sample, the radiation in Hessdalen is higher for some reason.

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