Auger optical map of highest energy cosmic rays

This celestial sphere in galactic coordinates shows the arrival directions of the 27 highest energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) detected in visible wavelengths by the Auger ground telescopes in Argentina.

The energies are greater than 57 billion of billions of electron-volts, and are shown as circles. The positions of 472 Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) within 75 megaparsecs, or about 245 million light years, are shown as red *s. The blue region defines the field of view of the Auger telescope and deeper blue indicates larger exposure.

The solid curve marks the boundary of the field of view. The closest AGN, Centaurus A, is marked as a white *. Two of the 27 cosmic rays have arrival directions within 3 degrees of this galaxy. The dashed curve delineates a region where large numbers of nearby galaxies, including AGNs, are concentrated.