Fermi's 15-year View of the Gamma-Ray Sky

  • Released Friday, February 20, 2026
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This image shows the entire sky as seen by Fermi's Large Area Telescope. Lighter colors indicate brighter gamma-ray sources. The map is centered on the center of our galaxy. The most prominent feature is the bright, diffuse glow running along the middle of the map, which marks the central plane of our Milky Way galaxy. The gamma rays there are mostly produced when energetic particles accelerated in the shock waves of supernova remnants collide with gas atoms and even light between the stars. Many of the star-like features above and below the Milky Way plane are distant galaxies powered by supermassive black holes. Many of the bright sources along the plane are pulsars. The image was constructed from 15 years of observations using front-converting gamma rays with energies greater than 1 GeV. Hammer projection with black background.Credit: NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration

This image shows the entire sky as seen by Fermi's Large Area Telescope. Lighter colors indicate brighter gamma-ray sources. The map is centered on the center of our galaxy. The most prominent feature is the bright, diffuse glow running along the middle of the map, which marks the central plane of our Milky Way galaxy. The gamma rays there are mostly produced when energetic particles accelerated in the shock waves of supernova remnants collide with gas atoms and even light between the stars. Many of the star-like features above and below the Milky Way plane are distant galaxies powered by supermassive black holes. Many of the bright sources along the plane are pulsars. The image was constructed from 15 years of observations using front-converting gamma rays with energies greater than 1 GeV. Hammer projection with black background.

Credit: NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration

These maps show how the entire sky appears at energies greater than 1 billion electron volts (GeV) according to 15 years of data from NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. (For comparison, the energy of visible light is between 2 and 3 electron volts.) The bright midplane of our galaxy runs across the middle of these images, which were produced from 180 months of data collected by Fermi's Large Area Telescope. For better angular resolution, the maps show only gamma rays detected at the front of the instrument's tracker. The 15-year maps represent more than 9.2 million gamma rays.

Same as above but with a transparent background.Credit: NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration

Same as above but with a transparent background.

Credit: NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration

Same as above but in the equidistant cylindrical projection.Credit: NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration

Same as above but in the equidistant cylindrical projection.

Credit: NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration

This image shows the entire sky as seen by Fermi's Large Area Telescope. Lighter colors indicate brighter gamma-ray sources. The map is centered on the point opposite the center of our galaxy. The most prominent feature is the bright, diffuse glow running along the middle of the map, which marks the central plane of our Milky Way galaxy. The gamma rays there are mostly produced when energetic particles accelerated in the shock waves of supernova remnants collide with gas atoms and even light between the stars. Many of the star-like features above and below the Milky Way plane are distant galaxies powered by supermassive black holes. Many of the bright sources along the plane are pulsars. The image was constructed from 15 years of observations using front-converting gamma rays with energies greater than 1 GeV. Hammer projection with black background.Credit: NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration

This image shows the entire sky as seen by Fermi's Large Area Telescope. Lighter colors indicate brighter gamma-ray sources. The map is centered on the point opposite the center of our galaxy. The most prominent feature is the bright, diffuse glow running along the middle of the map, which marks the central plane of our Milky Way galaxy. The gamma rays there are mostly produced when energetic particles accelerated in the shock waves of supernova remnants collide with gas atoms and even light between the stars. Many of the star-like features above and below the Milky Way plane are distant galaxies powered by supermassive black holes. Many of the bright sources along the plane are pulsars. The image was constructed from 15 years of observations using front-converting gamma rays with energies greater than 1 GeV. Hammer projection with black background.

Credit: NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration

Same as above but with a transparent background.Credit: NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration

Same as above but with a transparent background.

Credit: NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. However, individual items should be credited as indicated above.

This page was originally published on Friday, February 20, 2026.
This page was last updated on Friday, February 20, 2026 at 6:17 PM EST.