Tag Archive for 'Fermi'

This map of the entire sky shows the location of 739 blazars used in NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope’s measurement of the extragalactic background light. The background shows the sky as it appears in gamma rays with energies above 10 billion electron volts, constructed from nine years of observations by Fermi’s Large Area Telescope. The plane of our Milky Way Galaxy runs along the middle of the plot. Image credit: NASA / DOE / Fermi LAT Collaboration.

Astronomers Trace History of Universe’s Star Formation

Nov 30, 2018 by News Staff

Astronomers believe that our Universe began forming the first stars when it was a few hundred million years old. Since then, the Universe has become a...

This image shows data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory (purple in the inset boxes) in context with an optical image of GRB 150101B from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Image credit: X-rays – NASA / CXC / GSFC / UMC / E. Troja et al; optical and infrared – NASA / STScI.

Astronomers Find Object with Remarkable Similarities to Neutron-Star Merger GW170817

Oct 17, 2018 by News Staff

A distant relative to GW170817, the first source identified to emit gravitational waves and light, has been discovered. Reported in the journal Nature...

This view shows the entire sky at energies greater than 1 GeV based on five years of data from the LAT instrument on NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope; the most prominent feature is the bright band of diffuse glow along the map’s center, which marks the central plane of our Milky Way Galaxy. Image credit: NASA / DOE / Fermi LAT Collaboration.

Mysterious Gamma-Ray Signal Comes from Ancient Stars at Milky Way’s Center

Mar 14, 2018 by News Staff

An international group of researchers has discovered that an anomalous gamma-ray signal from Milky Way’s center comes from 10 billion-year-old stars,...

This artist’s impression shows two neutron stars at the point at which they merge and explode as a kilonova. Such a very rare event is expected to produce both gravitational waves and a short gamma-ray burst, both of which were observed on August 17, 2017, by LIGO and Virgo collaborations. Image credit: ESO / L. Calcada / M. Kornmesser.

Space- and Ground-Based Telescopes Catch Light from Gravitational-Wave Event GW170817

Oct 17, 2017 by News Staff

For the first time, astronomers have observed the source of gravitational waves, created by the merger of two neutron stars. The cataclysmic aftermaths...

Artist’s illustration of two merging neutron stars. Image credit: NSF / LIGO / Sonoma State University / A. Simonnet.

Scientists Detect Gravitational Waves from Colliding Neutron Stars

Oct 17, 2017 by News Staff

The LIGO Scientific Collaboration, Virgo Collaboration, and their partners have directly detected gravitational waves — ripples in space and time...

NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope produced this composite image of the central region of our Milky Way Galaxy. Note that the center of the Galaxy is located within the bright white region to the right of and just below the middle of the image. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / ESA / CXC / STScI.

High-Energy ‘Trap’ Spotted in Milky Way’s Center

Jul 19, 2017 by News Staff

The center of our Milky Way Galaxy contains a ‘trap’ that concentrates some of the highest-energy cosmic rays, according to a new analysis of data...

NASA’s Fermi telescope has detected a gamma-ray excess (shown in yellow-white) at the center of the Andromeda galaxy that’s similar to a signature Fermi previously detected at the center of our own Milky Way Galaxy. Scientists think the signal could be produced by a variety of processes, including a population of pulsars or even dark matter. Image credit: NASA / DOE / Fermi LAT Collaboration / Bill Schoening / Vanessa Harvey / REU Program / NOAO / AURA / NSF.

Fermi Finds Dark Matter Clues in Andromeda Galaxy

Feb 22, 2017 by News Staff

NASA’s Fermi telescope has detected a strong gamma-ray signal coming from the core of the Andromeda galaxy (also known as Messier 31) that could indicate...

In the heart of an active galaxy, matter falling toward a supermassive black hole creates jets of particles traveling near the speed of light. For active galaxies classified as blazars, one of these jets beams almost directly toward Earth. Image credit: NASA / Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab.

NASA’s Fermi Spacecraft Finds Five High Redshift Blazars

Feb 1, 2017 by News Staff

NASA’s Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope has spotted the five most distant gamma-ray blazars — a type of galaxy whose intense emissions are powered...

LMC P3 (circled) is located in the supernova remnant DEM L241 in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Record-Breaking Gamma-Ray Binary Spotted in Large Magellanic Cloud

Sep 30, 2016 by News Staff

A gamma-ray binary discovered in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy approximately 163,000 light-years away, is the first object of its kind ever...

Blazars are the most common sources detected by NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. As matter falls toward the supermassive black hole at the galaxy’s center, some of it is accelerated outward at nearly the speed of light along jets pointed in opposite directions. When one of the jets happens to be aimed in the direction of Earth, as illustrated here, the galaxy appears especially bright and is classified as a blazar. Image credit: M. Weiss / CfA.

NASA Space Telescopes Reveal Unexpected Blazar Connection

Aug 24, 2016 by News Staff

Astronomers studying black-hole-powered galaxies called blazars have uncovered a surprising link between two very different wavelengths of the light these...

This artist’s concept shows an active supermassive black hole with a jet streaming outward at nearly the speed of light. Such black holes are often found at the hearts of elliptical galaxies. Not all black holes have jets, but when they do, the jets can be pointed in any direction. If a jet happens to shine at Earth, the object is called a blazar. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Unidentified Gamma-Ray Sources: Important Piece of Puzzle Coming in Place

Feb 1, 2016 by News Staff

This artist’s concept shows an active supermassive black hole with a jet streaming outward at nearly the speed of light. Such black holes are often found...

Blazars are the most common sources detected by NASA’s Fermi telescope. As matter falls toward a supermassive black hole at the galaxy’s center, some of it is accelerated outward at nearly the speed of light along jets pointed in opposite directions. When one of the jets happens to be aimed in the direction of Earth, as illustrated here, the galaxy appears especially bright and is classified as a blazar. Image credit: M. Weiss / CfA.

Astronomers Detect High-Energy Gamma Rays from Blazar 7.6 Billion Light-Years Away

Dec 16, 2015 by News Staff

Using NASA’s Fermi Space Telescope, the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) in Arizona, and other telescopes, astronomers...

This image shows the newly-discovered dwarf galaxy Reticulum 2. Image credit: Sergey E. Koposov et al / Dark Energy Survey.

Reticulum 2: Gamma Rays from Dwarf Galaxy May Be Clue on Mysterious Dark Matter

Mar 11, 2015 by News Staff

A team of astronomers, led by Dr Alex Geringer-Sameth of Carnegie Mellon University, has detected gamma rays emanating from the recently discovered dwarf...

This graphic shows how Hubble probed the light from the quasar PDS 456 to analyze the Fermi Bubbles. The quasar's light passed through one of the bubbles; imprinted on that light is information about the outflow's speed, composition, and eventually mass. Image credit: NASA / ESA / A. Field, STScI.

Astronomers Probe Milky Way’s Mysterious Fermi Bubbles

Jan 9, 2015 by News Staff

Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have measured for the first time the velocity and composition of giant, balloon-like features known...

Fermi Discovers Unusual Gamma-Ray Pulsar

Jul 26, 2012 by Sergio Prostak

An international team of astronomers using NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has detected a very special gamma-ray pulsar. A gamma-ray pulsar...