With the help of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica, data has been recorded that confirms the existence of these small and swift particles.

According to The Dispatch Times, with the assistance of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, which consists of 86 shafts that are dug down deeply, 8,000 feet deep, that contain sensors for detecting signs of high-energy particles, scientists were able to detect the signs of a neutrino.

The last such detection was in 2013, with the source of the neutrino coming from outside our galaxy. This research is to confirm that these powerful particles do not originate from our galaxy and instead are from the outer-reaches of the universe.

Though neutrinos don’t interact with particles on Earth much, every now and then one will come into contact with a nucleus of an atom on the planet. From there, it creates another particle, called a muon. The muon is what scientists look for when seeking neutrinos, since they move faster than the speed of light but leave behind light waves, much like a boat traveling through water.

Much of the enticement is due to the fact that neutrinos haven’t changed from their origin source. A majority of the particles are created when they come into contact with the cosmic rays within the Earth’s atmosphere.

Though these mysterious, ghost-esque particles that zip through galaxies and universes are created from high energy sources, such as supernovas or the radioactive decay in black holes, the physicist Frederick Reines would say that neutrinos are “the most tiny quantity of reality ever imagined by a human being”.