APOD 1.7

This is a photo of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS). This device was launched on the Space shuttle Endeavor on May 16, 2011. It was created by the United States Department of Energy, and is currently being used by 56 other countries. This is a state of the art detector of different particles of energy. The AMS is currently attached to the International Space Station. It has been recording how often it has been struck by Positrons and electrons. This recording led to the discovery that there are more positrons emitted at upper levels than previously thought. The excess positrons are thought to be possibly from dark matter, but also possible that they are emitted from other sources such as pulsars. It would  be interesting to find out where these extra positrons are being produced and if it could be used for something later on.