Project of Merit Winner
Cosmic rays have baffled astronomers for over a century, as all potential origins have yet to be determined. Most of these galactic accelerated atomic nuclei are thought to be created in two possible fashions: from a supernova, or within a massive star cluster (MSC). In this study, we analyzed gamma-ray emission coincident with two MSCs named G25 and G27. Using NASA’s Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT), we confirmed that the sources of gamma rays are spatially extended and emit up to the maximum energies observed by the LAT. So far, only the closest MSC to Earth – called Cygnus X – has been identified as a gamma-ray source with the LAT. We find that the two recently discovered MSCs studied here – G25 and G27 – have similar properties to those of Cygnus X, making it likely these are two new MSCs detected in gamma-rays. Utilizing the studies previously conducted on G25 in 2017 and 2020, as well as new LAT data for G27, we find it plausible that these regions are producing cosmic rays. Though further studies are needed to understand the acceleration processes that occur within these regions and compare them to the Cygnus X
