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
One man who was going around with a Geiger counter said that even the air around Giant Rock was jumping with cosmic rays of leftover clouds from the Nevada atom blast, or backwash from space ships.
—
Alex Wigglesworth, Los Angeles Times, 23 June 2024
Inside the heliosphere, space is dominated by particles of the solar wind, while outside of it, cosmic rays reign.
—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
See all Example Sentences for cosmic ray 
Alex Wigglesworth, Los Angeles Times, 23 June 2024
Inside the heliosphere, space is dominated by particles of the solar wind, while outside of it, cosmic rays reign.
—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
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.
Dictionary Entries Near cosmic ray
Cite this Entry
“Cosmic ray.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cosmic%20ray. Accessed 15 Jul. 2024.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share