Ultra-high-energy cosmic ray

Imagine you're playing with a bouncy ball. Sometimes you throw it really hard and it bounces really high. That's kind of like what happens in space with ultra-high-energy cosmic rays.

These cosmic rays are tiny particles, even smaller than atoms, that come from outside our solar system. They travel through space at incredibly high speeds and sometimes, when they collide with other particles, they can create even more energy.

Scientists study these ultra-high-energy cosmic rays because they can tell us a lot about the universe. We can learn about the super powerful things that are happening out in space, like exploding stars or black holes.

To study these cosmic rays, scientists build special telescopes that can detect them when they shoot through the Earth's atmosphere. They then use lots of math and science to try and understand where these cosmic rays came from and what created them.

So, in simple terms, ultra-high-energy cosmic rays are tiny particles that fly through space at really high speeds and can teach us a lot about the universe.