Universe  ID: 11545

The Gamma-ray Sky

Story by Matt Davenport Released on June 19, 2014
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Magnificent bursts of light help scientists pinpoint the most energetic spots in the universe.
Gamma rays are the most powerful form of light in the universe. In the darkness of space, these luminous rays, which are invisible to humans but detectable by spacecraft, act as celestial beacons that alert us to some of the most extreme events and objects in the cosmos. For instance, when dying stars explode as supernovae, they emit gamma rays; so do particles being sucked into supermassive black holes; as do pulsars, the rapidly rotating stars that are as massive as our sun but only about the size of Manhattan. Since 2008, NASA’s Fermi spacecraft has observed gamma rays in the Milky Way and beyond. Plotted on a map, the locations of different sources appear as bright spots in the night sky. Watch the video to see how the spacecraft detects gamma rays.
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This animation shows gamma rays streaming from a collapsed star and the discovery of the source location by Fermi.
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Gamma rays released from supernovae are highlighted on this map.
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Material falling into supermassive black holes accounts for the majority of gamma ray sources detected by Fermi, as seen here.
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This map shows the locations of gamma rays emitted from pulsars.
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The main instrument aboard the Fermi spacecraft observes gamma rays across the entire sky every three hours.
 

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Story Credits

Visualizer/Animator:
Francis Reddy (University of Maryland College Park)

Producer:
Scott Wiessinger (USRA)

Lead Writer:
Matt Davenport (USRA)

Writer:
Francis Reddy (University of Maryland College Park)

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Images courtesy of NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11545

Keywords:
SVS >> App
NASA Science >> Universe