The Oh-My-God particle was an ultra-high-energy cosmic ray detected on October 15, 1991, by the Fly's Eye cosmic ray observatory at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, U.S.
Key Facts
▫️Energy: Measured at 3.2 × 10²⁰ eV (~51 joules), which is equivalent to the kinetic energy of a pitched baseball traveling at about 60 mph (94–100 km/h) packed into a single subatomic particle.
▫️Speed: Traveled at roughly 99.99999999999999999999951% the speed of light (0.999999999999999999999957c).
▫️Comparison: It carried about 40 to 60 times more energy than the most powerful particle collisions produced by the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).
▫️The Mystery: It shattered the theoretical GZK limit (the maximum energy cosmic rays should possess before losing energy over long journeys through the cosmos), challenging standard models of astrophysics and leaving its exact origin source and composition (proton vs. heavier nucleus) largely unexplained.
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