Today, International Cosmic Day takes place for the sixth time. High-school students from around the world are investigating cosmic rays, discussing their results with scientists and working like a scientific international collaboration. 

Cosmic rays are everywhere, they fly through the atmosphere and our bodies unnoticed. Previously their detection and analysis was the exclusive domain of high-energy physicists with large detectors. Now, low-cost detectors are available for high-schools and each detector can be networked to create a giant cosmic ray telescope.

Research institutions worldwide are opening their doors to offer these young people a chance to research astroparticle physics. The event is initiated by the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY in cooperation with Netzwerk Teilchenwelt in Germany and the research centre Fermilab with its teachers' network QuarkNet in the US, as well as a number of national partners. More than 60 groups of young people in 17 countries around the world are participating.

For more information about International Cosmic Day see https://icd.desy.de/

If you are a high-school student or teacher, find out how you could win a cosmic ray detector by entering CERN’s beamline for schools competition: http://beamline-for-schools.web.cern.ch/