A China-led research team has detected the highest-energy light particle ever recorded, revealing that the universe can accelerate matter to energies 30 times greater than previously predicted. This groundbreaking discovery was made by the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO), a vast detector array located on the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau.

The particle originated from a violent binary star system known as Cygnus X-3, situated in the constellation Cygnus. This system features a dead star stripping material from a massive companion star and emitting powerful jets into space. After traveling nearly 30,000 years, the particle reached Earth in March 2024, where LHAASO successfully captured it.

The LHAASO team reported their findings in the journal National Science Review in August 2026. Cao Zhen, LHAASO’s principal investigator at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, noted that previous theories suggested particles could not be accelerated beyond about 1 peta-electron volt (PeV), or 1 quadrillion electron volts, within star explosions or swirling black holes in the Milky Way. This new detection challenges that limit and offers a unique opportunity to study how black holes and other cosmic objects launch particles to such extreme energies within our galaxy.

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South China Morning Post World