Cosmic ray strikes?

[Tachyon]

Cool! How do they look like?

[weixing]

I noticed something the other day, not sure if it belongs here or in "Observations".

When imaging, I get far, far fewer cosmic ray strikes in my light frames here in Singapore compared to Japan. This is with the same equipment.

They are usually quite prominent, so I doubt they're getting lost in the higher dark current (and associated noise) here.

Maybe the moisture in the atmosphere is scattering them more?
The greater distance from the poles, and further from any bands on the surface that the Earth's magnetic field channels the particles down to, maybe?

Charged particles are concentrated in the polar regions when they strike earth, so cosmic ray don't usually seen at equator region...

I'm capturing raw frames, using (the same) software that uses dcraw/rawlib. So, there's no possibility of software "fixing" the strikes.

Took multiple light frames and stack (not add) them should solve the issue.

Have a nice day.

[weixing]

Hi,

Weixing: I seem to recall it is not just polar regions (which definitely receive the most), but also around maybe +/-40 degrees, and maybe other "bands" too, but I can't find anything confirming this. ISTR the field at the surface can be a different polarity as well as strength, and this being slightly similar/related to the Van Allen belts.

Hmm... may be the thicker atmosphere at the equator region reduce the chance of the cosmic ray from reaching us.

Tachyon: I'm pretty sure I can find some examples when I get home They just look like little coloured splodges - they don't get far in the detector, just a few pixels. One thing that interests me is that they are coloured. I'd expect them to be gray, or mottled if the colour filter array is actually filtering some of the light. Maybe I'm mistaking another artefact for cosmic rays? They do look the same as example images posted by others, though.

The cosmic ray will create a lots of free electron when it hit the silicon matrix of your sensor affecting an area and since most coloured sensor use a bayer array, it's should be coloured.

Have a nice day.

[superiorstream]

Hi,Stuart
If you are saying cosmic radiation as gamma radiation,I think a little get through our atmosphere and strike us.I still remember those days in the U where I use a GM counter to measure the background radiation and its almost constant inALL direction--slightly higher when the counter is facing the sky.On the other hand if you are talking about charged particles that penetrate our atmosphere then the north or south--Europe ,Australia--will show a stronger presence;because such particles from the sun will follow the magnetic flux lines of the earth and at the equator such flux lines are parallel to the surface.Thus the charged particles get deviated to the north or south.My 2 cents.Thanks.