Cosmic Radiation

Every day that we walk around on earth, we are being continuously blasted by cosmic radiation. So says Carl Sagan, so must it be. But lets talk about it, learn some things about the how why and when, and see if we can gleam some small knowledge about the impinging radiation,

The first and most obvious source of radiation from the heavens is our sun, the massive ball of burning energy that blasts us constantly, both providing the essential energy for all life on earth and the means of achieving a sweet tan.

http://www.universetoday.com/60065/radiation-from-the-sun/

The sunlight we receive when the earth turns to face a new day is the radiation that the sun gives off. We get a huge amount and variety of radiation due to the grace of our resident star, which emits vast amounts of high energy photons (packets of energy with no mass that act as waves), that reach earth in the form infrared through UV light. It is this energy that warms the atmosphere and sustains all life in our solar system.

Another form of cosmic radiation comes in the form of neutrinos, a neutral subatomic particle with a mass on the order of millionth of an electrons. Because of their neutrality and extremely low mass, they rarely interact with anything, allowing them to travel extreme distances very quickly (very close to, if not at, the speed of light). They are the result of certain nuclear reactions, such as those in the sun.

"About 65 billion (6.5×10¹⁰) solar neutrinos per second pass through every square centimeter perpendicular to the direction of the Sun in the region of the Earth."

-Wikipedia

Besides the sun, neutrinos may be formed in distant supernova or close to home, in nuclear reactors, or through the natural decay of elements such as uranium. In fact, it is theorized that a massive quantities of very cold (close to absolute zero) neutrinos from the very beginning of the universe surrounds us, which carries the name "cosmic neutrino background". 

Closely related to this is "cosmic microwave background", which is energy that was left over after the formation of the universe. This background radiation is partly responsible for the static that appears on a television which operates over antenna. It's existence is touted as evidence for the Big Bang model of the creation of the universe.

Another form of radiation that we know little about is the relatively rare  "ultra-high-energy cosmic ray", which is radiation which has been detected at energies of above 1E18 eV, much above typical emissions. A particularly amusing example is the "Oh-My-God particle", a 3E20 (3E8 Tera Electronvolts) particle detected by the University of Utah in 1991. The source of these incredibly energetic particles is still up for debate, but it is argued that they must be the results of recent cosmic events, as energy is quickly shed while travelling in space.

Thanks for reading this abstraction, may you live long and prosper.