cosmic ray
noun
: a stream of atomic nuclei of extremely penetrating character that enter the earth's atmosphere from outer space at speeds approaching that of light
Examples of cosmic ray in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Inside the heliosphere, space is dominated by particles of the solar wind, while outside of it, cosmic rays reign.
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Meghan Bartels, Scientific American, 14 June 2024
Relocating code Through their investigation, Voyager's ground team discovered a single chip responsible for storing a portion of the FDS memory stopped working, probably due to either a cosmic ray hit or a failure of aging hardware.
—Stephen Clark, Ars Technica, 23 Apr. 2024
Explorer 1 found evidence of radiation belts around Earth with its cosmic ray detector.
—Elizabeth Gamillo, Discover Magazine, 28 May 2024
That affords astronauts some protection from the Earth’s magnetosphere—which shields us from solar and cosmic rays on the ground.
—Jeffrey Kluger, TIME, 15 May 2024
See all Example Sentences for cosmic ray 
Meghan Bartels, Scientific American, 14 June 2024
Relocating code Through their investigation, Voyager's ground team discovered a single chip responsible for storing a portion of the FDS memory stopped working, probably due to either a cosmic ray hit or a failure of aging hardware.
—Stephen Clark, Ars Technica, 23 Apr. 2024
Explorer 1 found evidence of radiation belts around Earth with its cosmic ray detector.
—Elizabeth Gamillo, Discover Magazine, 28 May 2024
That affords astronauts some protection from the Earth’s magnetosphere—which shields us from solar and cosmic rays on the ground.
—Jeffrey Kluger, TIME, 15 May 2024
See all Example Sentences for cosmic ray
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'cosmic ray.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Cosmic ray.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cosmic%20ray. Accessed 4 Jul. 2024.
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