Fermi Satellite Observes Billionth Gamma Ray with LAT Instrument
On April 12, one of the spacecraft's instruments - the Large Area Telescope (LAT), which was conceived of and assembled at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory - detected its billionth extraterrestrial gamma ray. Read more
The team behind the Fermi telescope opens a call for changes to how it works - in a bid that could see hints of the mysterious "dark matter" confirmed. Read more
Fermi Improves its Vision for Thunderstorm Gamma-Ray Flashes
Thanks to improved data analysis techniques and a new operating mode, the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) aboard NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is now 10 times better at catching the brief outbursts of high-energy light mysteriously produced above thunderstorms. Read more
Title: Fermi Gamma-Ray Burst Monitor Science Highlights Authors: V. Connaughton, the GBM Team
Three years after the launch of the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, both of its scientific instruments are operating perfectly and continuing to make breakthroughs in astrophysics, particle physics, and atmospheric science. I report here on the highlights of the scientific program of the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM).
To locate a pulsar in Fermi LAT data requires knowledge of the objects sky position, its pulse period, and how the pulse rate slows over time. Computers check many different combinations of position and period against gamma rays collected by the LAT. With the right combination, photons bunch up to form pulses and a new gamma-ray pulsar is discovered.
Fermi's Latest Gamma-ray Census Highlights Cosmic Mysteries
Every three hours, NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope scans the entire sky and deepens its portrait of the high-energy universe. Every year, the satellite's scientists reanalyse all of the data it has collected, exploiting updated analysis methods to tease out new sources. These relatively steady sources are in addition to the numerous transient events Fermi detects, such as gamma-ray bursts in the distant universe and flares from the sun. Read more
The Fermi space telescope has yielded the most detailed gamma ray map of the sky - representing the Universe's most violent and extreme processes. The telescope's newest results, as well as the map, were described at the Third Fermi Symposium in Rome this week. Gamma rays are the highest-energy light we know of, many millions of times more energetic than visible light. Read more