Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope
From end to end, the newly discovered gamma-ray bubbles extend 50,000 light-years, or roughly half of the Milky Way's diameter, as shown in this illustration. Hints of the bubbles' edges were first observed in X-rays (blue) by ROSAT, a Germany-led mission operating in the 1990s. The gamma rays mapped by Fermi (magenta) extend much farther from the galaxy's plane. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Description
The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, or Fermi, (formerly the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope, or GLAST) mission is designed to survey gamma rays from astronomical sources in the energy range from 10 keV to over 300 GeV. The scientific objectives are to: (1) explore the most extreme environments in the universe; (2) search for signs of new laws of physics and understand the composition of dark matter; (3) study the acceleration of relativistic velocity jets of material by black holes; (4) detect and collect data on gamma-ray bursts; and, (5) help gain a better understanding of other cosmic phenomena, such as solar flares, pulsars, and the origin of cosmic rays. Fermi carries two primary instruments, the Large Area Telescope (LAT) designed to observe gamma-ray sources over the energy range from 20 MeV to over 300 GeV, and the GLAST Burst Monitor (GBM), which will view the entire sky not occulted by Earth and detect gamma-ray bursts with an energy coverage from about 10 keV to 30 MeV. (NASA - National Space Science Data Center) |
Links
http://fermi.gsfc.nasa.gov Facts Spectrum Studied: Gamma Rays Launch Date: 2008-06-11 Status: Still Operational Orbital Location: Earth Orbit (555 km) Launch Vehicle: Delta II Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida Mass: 4,303 kg Funding Agency NASA-Office of Space Science (United States) |