The Gamma-ray Sky

  • Released Thursday, June 19, 2014

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.

Material falling into supermassive black holes accounts for the majority of gamma ray sources detected by Fermi, as seen here.

Material falling into supermassive black holes accounts for the majority of gamma ray sources detected by Fermi, as seen here.

The main instrument aboard the Fermi spacecraft observes gamma rays across the entire sky every three hours.

The main instrument aboard the Fermi spacecraft observes gamma rays across the entire sky every three hours.



Credits

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

Release date

This page was originally published on Thursday, June 19, 2014.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:50 PM EDT.