Number 250 (Story #2), December 1, 1995 by Phillip F. Schewe and Ben Stein EVIDENCE FOR COSMIC RAYS COMING FROM A SUPERNOVA has finally been observed. The standard opinion about cosmic rays is that the lower-energy rays (up to an energy of 10**15 eV) probably originate in our galaxy and consist of electrons and ions accelerated to high speeds by supernova shocks. (Higher-energy cosmic rays may be extragalactic in origin.) New pictures of supernova SN1006 recorded by the orbiting ASCA x-ray telescope reveal both thermal x rays---the radiation coming from supernova remnant material at high temperature---and non-thermal x rays from the limb of the supernova---synchrotron radiation from high energy electrons (100 TeV), presumably energized by the outward-moving shock front from the supernova. The ASCA scientists expect that ions too are being accelerated by the same mechanism. (K. Koyama et al., Nature, 16 November.)