NASA's Fermi Telescope Reveals Best-Ever View of Gamma-Ray Sky

March 12, 2009

GREENBELT, Md. -- A new map combining nearly three months of data from NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is giving astronomers an unprecedented look at the high-energy cosmos. To Fermi's eyes, the universe is ablaze with gamma rays from sources ranging from within the solar system to galaxies billions of light-years away.

"Fermi has given us a deeper and better-resolved view of the gamma-ray sky than any previous space mission," said Peter Michelson, the lead scientist for the spacecraft's Large Area Telescope (LAT) at Stanford University, Calif. "We're watching flares from supermassive black holes in distant galaxies and seeing pulsars, high-mass binary systems, and even a globular cluster in our own."

A paper describing the 205 brightest sources the LAT sees has been submitted to The Astrophysical Journal Supplement. "This is the mission's first major science product, and it's a big step toward producing our first source catalog later this year," said David Thompson, a Fermi deputy project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

The LAT scans the entire sky every three hours when operating in survey mode, which is occupying most of the telescope's observing time during Fermi's first year of operations. These snapshots let scientists monitor rapidly changing sources.

The all-sky image released today shows us how the cosmos would look if our eyes could detect radiation 150 million times more energetic than visible light. The view merges LAT observations spanning 87 days, from August 4 to October 30, 2008.

The map includes one object familiar to everyone: the sun. "Because the sun appears to move against the background sky, it produces a faint arc across the upper right of the map," Michelson explained. During the next few years, as solar activity increases, scientists expect the sun to produce growing numbers of high-energy flares. "No other instrument will be able to observe solar flares in the LAT's energy range," he said.

To better show individual sources, the new map was processed to suppress emissions from gas in the plane of our galaxy, the Milky Way. As a way of underscoring the variety of the objects the LAT is seeing, the Fermi team created a "top ten" list comprising five sources within the Milky Way and five beyond our galaxy.

The top sources within our galaxy include the sun; a star system known as LSI +61 303, which pairs a massive normal star with a superdense neutron star; PSR J1836+5925, which is one of many new pulsars, a type of spinning neutron star that emits gamma-ray beams; and the globular cluster 47 Tucanae, a sphere of ancient stars 15,000 light-years away.

Top extragalactic sources include NGC 1275, a galaxy that lies 225 million light-years away and is known for intense radio emissions; the dramatically flaring active galaxies 3C 454.3 and PKS 1502+106, both more than 6 billion light-years away; and PKS 0727-115, which is thought to be a type of active galaxy called a quasar.

The Fermi top ten also includes two sources -- one within the Milky Way plane and one beyond it -- that researchers have yet to identify. More than 30 of the brightest gamma-ray sources have no obvious counterparts at other wavelengths. "That's good news. It means we're seeing new objects," Michelson said. "It also means that we have lots of work to do."

NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is an astrophysics and particle physics partnership mission, developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy and important contributions from academic institutions and partners in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden, and the U.S.

NASA

---

---

	The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds by Paul Zindel (Author) The old, converted vegetable shop where Tillie lives is more like a madhouse than a home. Tillie's mother, Beatrice, is bitter and cruel, yet desperate for her daughters' love. Her sister, Ruth, suffers epileptic fits and sneaks cigarettes every chance she gets. In the midst of chaos, Tillie struggles to keep her focus and dreams alive. Tillie -- keeper of rabbits, dreamer of atoms, true believer in life, hope, and the effect of gamma rays on man-in-the-moon marigolds.
	Milkshakes and Gamma Rays Milkshakes and Gamma Rays is a humorous tale centered around a dramatic week in the lives of Brie Gable and her spirited new friend Naomi "Star Flower" Minami. They are intelligent, opinionated high school juniors who divide their free time between chilling out, flirting with trouble, and philosophizing about the issues of the day. Each is a new transfer student to St. Margaret's, a private school in California. They are living in present day America, but in a divergent timeline, where public education has been eliminated, there's a civil war in Nevada, privacy is on the decline, peculiar brands of moralism are taking hold, and things are getting a little crazy all around. The book is a little over 50,000 words long, and contains occasional adult language. A sequel...
	What Are Gamma-Ray Bursts? (Princeton Frontiers in Physics) by Joshua S. Bloom (Author) Gamma-ray bursts are the brightest--and, until recently, among the least understood--cosmic events in the universe. Discovered by chance during the cold war, these evanescent high-energy explosions confounded astronomers for decades. But a rapid series of startling breakthroughs beginning in 1997 revealed that the majority of gamma-ray bursts are caused by the explosions of young and massive stars in the vast star-forming cauldrons of distant galaxies. New findings also point to very different origins for some events, serving to complicate but enrich our understanding of the exotic and violent universe. What Are Gamma-Ray Bursts? is a succinct introduction to this fast-growing subject, written by an astrophysicist who is at the forefront of today's research into these incredible cosmic...
	Practical Gamma-ray Spectroscopy by Gordon Gilmore (Author) The Second Edition of Practical Gamma-Ray Spectrometry has been completely revised and updated, providing comprehensive coverage of the whole gamma-ray detection and spectrum analysis processes. Drawn on many years of teaching experience to produce this uniquely practical volume, issues discussed include the origin of gamma-rays and the issue of quality assurance in gamma-ray spectrometry. This new edition also covers the analysis of decommissioned nuclear plants, computer modelling systems for calibration, uncertainty measurements in QA, and many more topics.
	Technology and Law Enforcement: From Gumshoe to Gamma Rays by Robert L. Snow (Author) Although for much of the mid-20th century police departments across the U.S. had been reluctant to embrace new technology, depending instead on traditional police techniques, detectives in Los Angeles finally departed from this practice when they found themselves stymied in their attempts to solve the infamous Night Stalker serial murder case. This murderer and rapist had gone on a deadly rampage during the spring and summer of 1985, and though the police used every traditional police technique, they could not solve the crime. Finally, in desperation, they decided to do something different: use what was then the latest, cutting edge-technology. This new technology, the laser print finder, worked perfectly and the police arrested the Night Stalker the next day. Following this astonishing...
	Exploding Superstars: Understanding Supernovae and Gamma-Ray Bursts (Springer Praxis Books / Popular Astronomy) by Alain Mazure (Author), Stéphane Basa (Author) The exceptional cosmic history and the fabulous destinies of exploding stars – supernovae and gamma-ray bursters – are highly fertile areas of research and are also very special tools to further our understanding of the universe. In this book, cosmologists Dr Alain Mazure and Dr Stéphane Basa throw light on the assemblage of facts, hypotheses and cosmological conclusions and show how these ‘beacons’ illuminate their immediate surroundings and allow us to study the vast cosmos, like searchlights revealing the matter comprising our universe.
	The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man in the Moon Marigolds : A Unit Plan (LitPlans) by Marion B. Hoffman (Author) LitPlans are manuals full of materials for teaching specific novels and plays. Each LitPlan is written to go with a particular book title and contains study questions, quizzes, writing assignments, discussion questions, unit tests, vocabulary worksheets, daily lesson plans, group and individual assignments and activities, worksheets, games, puzzles, bulletin board ideas, written objectives for the guide and each lesson, and more. The lessons can be used as planned or teachers may use the materials provided in other ways. Number of pages in the LitPlans varies depending on the length and complexity of the book being taught, but ranges from 100-250 pages.
	Gamma-Ray Bursts: The brightest explosions in the Universe (Springer Praxis Books / Astronomy and Planetary Sciences) by Gilbert Vedrenne (Author), Jean-Luc Atteia (Author) Since their discovery was first announced in 1973, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have been among the most fascination objects in the universe. While the initial mystery has gone, the fascination continues, sustained by the close connection linking GRBs with some of the most fundamental topics in modern astrophysics and cosmology. Both authors have been active in GRB observations for over two decades and have produced an outstanding account on both the history and the perspectives of GRB research.
	Gamma-Ray and Electron Spectroscopy in Nuclear Physics (Oxford Studies in Nuclear Physics) by H. Ejiri (Author), M. J. A. de Voigt (Author) This book introduces graduate students to the gamma-ray and conversion-electron spectroscopic methods, which have shed new light on nuclear structure and reaction mechanisms. The simplicity and familiarity of the electromagnetic interaction involved gives accurate values for many nuclear quantities, and both static and dynamic properties can be investigated over a wide range of excitation energies. More experienced nuclear physicists will benefit by the book's review of recent developments in the field, including the development of new experimental techniques such as gamma-detector assemblies, electron spectrometers, and measurements of electromagnetic moments. The book is distinguished by a careful balance between the presentation of theoretical concepts and experimental methods.
	The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds by Paul Zindel (Author)