Gamma Ray Creation

  • Released Friday, September 7, 2007
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Gamma rays are the highest-energy forms of light in the electromagnetic spectrum and they can have over a billion times the energy of the type of light visible to the human eye. Gamma rays can be created in several different ways: a high-energy particle can collide with another particle, a particle can collide and annihilate with its anti-particle, an element can undergo radioactive decay, or a charged particle can be accelerated. In this animation, we see a high-energy photon collide with a free electron, which causes the creation of a gamma-ray.

This animation shows a high-energy photon (blue coil) colliding with a free electron (red ball), which causes the release of a gamma-ray (purple flash).

For More Information

See http://www.nasa.gov/GLAST

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Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab

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This page was originally published on Friday, September 7, 2007.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:55 PM EDT.