After a two-year break, the most significant and robust particle accelerator globally is gearing up to collide protons in an effort to unveil the elusive particles that are believed to be the hidden forces of our universe. This colossal machine, known as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), propels protons into one another to crack them open, allowing scientists to analyze the subatomic particles within. It’s theorized that there are 17 distinct categories of particles, and in 2012, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, verified the existence of one of these using the LHC. Following a period of dormancy, the LHC has been reactivated by the team with the aim of discovering more about these enigmas, especially dark matter.
In the upcoming solar eclipse, the scientific community intends to validate the presence of dark matter, which, despite never being observed directly, is thought to constitute about 28% of the universe. The LHC is typically operational for a month each year, but it has remained inactive for two years due to the energy crisis that hit Europe in 2022. Recently, scientists announced the finding of a “ghost-like” structure within the collider.
The widely followed X account “Concerned Citizen” brought attention to CERN’s experiments during the solar eclipse and mentioned that NASA plans to launch missions dubbed after an ancient Egyptian serpent god during this astronomical event. This NASA endeavor, referred to as Atmospheric Perturbations around the Eclipse Path or APEP, adopts its name in tribute to the “serpent deity from ancient Egyptian mythology,” recognized as a “nemesis of the Sun deity Ra.”
“It was said that Apep pursued Ra and every so often nearly consumed him, resulting in an eclipse,” according to the official NASA website.
Ancient Egypt Online describes “Apep as the ancient Egyptian spirit of evil, darkness, and destruction. As the arch enemy of the sun god, Ra, he was a malevolent force who could never be entirely vanquished. Every night, as the sun travelled though the underworld (or across the sky), his roar would fill the air and he would launch his attack.”
The purpose behind NASA’s project is to examine the effects of the solar eclipse’s abrupt reduction in sunlight on the Earth’s upper atmosphere.