Measuring Cosmic Rays: There's an App for that

[TumblingDice]

A group of researchers from the University of California has published a paper regarding the viability of detecting cosmic rays using an array of 'SmartPhones'. I've read before that the digital sensors (photomultipliers?) in most cameras and cell phones detect infrared and, by design, this is filtered out by the camera lens. (EDIT: a filter behind the lens)

Who woulda' thought about cosmic rays? :w

Article here:
http://arstechnica.com/science/2014/10/cosmic-ray-particle-shower-theres-an-app-for-that/

PDF (7 pages) here:
http://crayfis.ps.uci.edu/paper.pdf

 

[Drakkith]

Interesting use of a phenomenon that us astrophotographers have to take pains to filter out of our images. Cosmic rays and high energy particles also plague the detectors of space telescopes. If you take a look at a raw exposure from the HST prior to processing you'd never guess that they could make clear images out of these exposures.