{ "id": 40135, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/fermi-near-earth/", "page_type": "Gallery", "title": "Fermi: Near Earth", "description": "No description available.", "release_date": "2013-08-05T00:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2019-08-27T00:00:00-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 467096, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a011200/a011229/Earth_Debris-earthspin_web.jpg", "filename": "Earth_Debris-earthspin_web.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Shorter version of animation showing Earth with near-Earth orbital debris. The debris field is real data from the NASA Orbital Debris Program Office.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/JSC", "width": 180, "height": 320, "pixels": 57600 }, "media_groups": [ { "id": 370729, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/fermi-near-earth/#media_group_370729", "widget": "Tile gallery", "title": "Visuals", "caption": "", "description": "", "items": [ { "id": 406022, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 13236, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13236/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Fermi Sees the Moon in Gamma Rays", "description": "These images show the steadily improving view of the Moon’s gamma-ray glow from NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Each 5-by-5-degree image is centered on the Moon and shows gamma rays with energies above 31 million electron volts, or tens of millions of times that of visible light. At these energies, the Moon is actually brighter than the Sun. Brighter colors indicate greater numbers of gamma rays. This image sequence shows how longer exposure, ranging from two to 128 months (10.7 years), improved the view.Credit: NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration || MoonvsTimesingleimageen.jpg (4322x2161) [5.2 MB] || ", "release_date": "2019-08-15T09:50:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:45:42.272492-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 394867, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a013200/a013236/MoonvsTimesingleimagenotext_print.jpg", "filename": "MoonvsTimesingleimagenotext_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Same as above but without text.Credit: NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration", "width": 1024, "height": 512, "pixels": 524288 } } }, { "id": 406023, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 12952, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12952/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "A Decade of Fermi TGFs", "description": "Visualization of ten years of Fermi observations of Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes (TGFs). This version is optimized for display on normal screens, has labels, and dates for each data pass. || u3540.png (4096x2048) [5.9 MB] || u3540_print.jpg (1024x512) [122.2 KB] || u3540_searchweb.png (320x180) [71.4 KB] || u3540_thm.png (80x40) [5.8 KB] || Fermi_TGF_Flat_Years_1080p.mov (1920x960) [73.6 MB] || Fermi_TGF_Flat_Years_1080p.webm (1920x960) [9.1 MB] || Fermi_TGF_Flat_Years_ProRes_4096x2048.mov (4096x2048) [8.4 GB] || Fermi_TGF_Flat_Years_4K.mp4 (4096x2048) [321.7 MB] || Fermi_TGF_Flat_Years_4K.mov (4096x2048) [303.4 MB] || Fermi_TGF_Flat_Years_1080p.mp4 (2160x1080) [161.2 MB] || ", "release_date": "2018-05-18T00:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:46:47.741088-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 404014, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a012900/a012952/u3540_print.jpg", "filename": "u3540_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Visualization of ten years of Fermi observations of Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes (TGFs). This version is optimized for display on normal screens, has labels, and dates for each data pass.", "width": 1024, "height": 512, "pixels": 524288 } } }, { "id": 406024, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 10278, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10278/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "NASA's Fermi Helps Scientists Study Gamma-ray Thunderstorms", "description": "New research merging Fermi data with information from ground-based radar and lightning networks shows that terrestrial gamma-ray flashes arise from an unexpected diversity of storms and may be more common than currently thought. Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel. For complete transcript, click here. || Florida_TGF_still_print.jpg (1024x576) [115.1 KB] || Florida_TGF_still.jpg (1280x720) [169.4 KB] || Florida_TGF_still_thm.png (80x40) [8.7 KB] || Florida_TGF_still_searchweb.png (320x180) [75.0 KB] || Florida_TGF_still_web.jpg (320x180) [20.8 KB] || G2014-107_Fermi_TGF_Radar_FINAL_appletv_subtitles.m4v (960x540) [66.4 MB] || 10278_Fermi_TGF_Radar_ProRes_1280x720_5994.mov (1280x720) [2.7 GB] || G2014-107_Fermi_TGF_Radar_FINAL_appletv.webm (960x540) [21.7 MB] || G2014-107_Fermi_TGF_Radar_FINAL_appletv.m4v (960x540) [66.5 MB] || 10278_Fermi_TGF_Radar_MPEG4_1280X720_2997.mp4 (1280x720) [36.8 MB] || G2014-107_Fermi_TGF_Radar_FINAL_1280x720.wmv (1280x720) [62.5 MB] || 10278_Fermi_TGF_Radar_H264_Good_1280x720_2997.mov (1280x720) [65.2 MB] || 10278_Fermi_TGF_Radar_H264_Best_1280x720_5994.mov (1280x720) [801.8 MB] || G2014-107_Fermi_TGF_Radar_FINAL_ipod_lg.m4v (640x360) [28.5 MB] || 10278_Fermi_TGF_Radar_SRT_Captions.en_US.vtt [3.7 KB] || 10278_Fermi_TGF_Radar_SRT_Captions.en_US.srt [3.7 KB] || G2014-107_Fermi_TGF_Radar_FINAL_ipod_sm.mp4 (320x240) [13.0 MB] || ", "release_date": "2014-12-15T13:29:00-05:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:50:13.481174-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 448216, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010200/a010278/Florida_TGF_still.jpg", "filename": "Florida_TGF_still.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "New research merging Fermi data with information from ground-based radar and lightning networks shows that terrestrial gamma-ray flashes arise from an unexpected diversity of storms and may be more common than currently thought. Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel. For complete transcript, click here.", "width": 1280, "height": 720, "pixels": 921600 } } }, { "id": 406025, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 11131, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11131/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Fermi Improves Its Vision For Thunderstorm Gamma-ray Flashes", "description": "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. The outbursts, known as terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs), last only a few thousandths of a second, but their gamma rays rank among the highest-energy light that naturally occurs on Earth. The enhanced GBM discovery rate helped scientists show most TGFs also generate a strong burst of radio waves, a finding that will change how scientists study this poorly understood phenomenon.Lightning emits a broad range of very low frequency (VLF) radio waves, often heard as pop-and-crackle static when listening to AM radio. The World Wide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN), a research collaboration operated by the University of Washington in Seattle, routinely detects these radio signals and uses them to pinpoint the location of lightning discharges anywhere on the globe to within about 12 miles (20 km).Scientists have known for a long time TGFs were linked to strong VLF bursts, but they interpreted these signals as originating from lightning strokes somehow associated with the gamma-ray emission.\"Instead, we've found when a strong radio burst occurs almost simultaneously with a TGF, the radio emission is coming from the TGF itself,\" said co-author Michael Briggs, a member of the GBM team. The researchers identified much weaker radio bursts that occur up to several thousandths of a second before or after a TGF. They interpret these signals as intracloud lightning strokes related to, but not created by, the gamma-ray flash. Scientists suspect TGFs arise from the strong electric fields near the tops of thunderstorms. Under certain conditions, the field becomes strong enough that it drives a high-speed upward avalanche of electrons, which give off gamma rays when they are deflected by air molecules. \"What's new here is that the same electron avalanche likely responsible for the gamma-ray emission also produces the VLF radio bursts, and this gives us a new window into understanding this phenomenon,\" said Joseph Dwyer, a physics professor at the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Fla., and a member of the study team. Because the WWLLN radio positions are far more precise than those based on Fermi's orbit, scientists will develop a much clearer picture of where TGFs occur and perhaps which types of thunderstorms tend to produce them.Watch this video on YouTube. || ", "release_date": "2012-12-06T10:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:52:32.658099-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 471001, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a011100/a011131/Fermi_TGF_Still_1.jpg", "filename": "Fermi_TGF_Still_1.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Lightning in the clouds is directly linked to events that produce some of the highest-energy light naturally made on Earth: terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs). An instrument aboard NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope was recently fine-tuned to better catch TGFs, and this allowed scientists to discover that TGFs emit radio waves, too.For complete transcript, click here.", "width": 1280, "height": 720, "pixels": 921600 } } }, { "id": 406026, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 10706, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10706/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes Create Antimatter", "description": "NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has detected beams of antimatter launched by thunderstorms. Acting like enormous particle accelerators, the storms can emit gamma-ray flashes, called TGFs, and high-energy electrons and positrons. Scientists now think that most TGFs produce particle beams and antimatter.For additional animations showing bremsstrahlung and pair production gamma ray reactions, go here.For more visualizations showing Fermi's TGF detections, go to#3747, #3748, and #3756.For animations of the Fermi spacecraft and matter/antimatter, go to#10707 and #10651. || ", "release_date": "2011-01-10T16:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:53:55.719114-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 488484, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010700/a010706/TGF_Still_1280x720.jpg", "filename": "TGF_Still_1280x720.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "TGFs produce high-energy electrons and positrons. Moving near the speed of light, these particles travel into space along Earth's magnetic field.Watch this video on the NASAexplorer YouTube channel.For complete transcript, click here.", "width": 1280, "height": 720, "pixels": 921600 } } }, { "id": 406027, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 11229, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11229/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "When Fermi Dodged a 1.5-ton Bullet", "description": "NASA scientists don't often learn that their spacecraft is at risk of crashing into another satellite. But when Julie McEnery, the project scientist for NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, checked her email on March 29, 2012, she found herself facing this precise situation. While Fermi is in fine shape today, continuing its mission to map the highest-energy light in the universe, the story of how it sidestepped a potential disaster offers a glimpse at an underappreciated aspect of managing a space mission: orbital traffic control. As McEnery worked through her inbox, an automatically generated report arrived from NASA's Robotic Conjunction Assessment Risk Analysis (CARA) team based at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. On scanning the document, she discovered that Fermi was just one week away from an unusually close encounter with Cosmos 1805, a dead Cold-War era spy satellite. The two objects, speeding around Earth at thousands of miles an hour in nearly perpendicular orbits, were expected to miss each other by a mere 700 feet.Although the forecast indicated a close call, satellite operators have learned the hard way that they can't be too careful. The uncertainties in predicting spacecraft positions a week into the future can be much larger than the distances forecast for their closest approach. With a speed relative to Fermi of 27,000 mph, a direct hit by the 3,100-pound Cosmos 1805 would release as much energy as two and a half tons of high explosives, destroying both spacecraft. The update on Friday, March 30, indicated that the satellites would occupy the same point in space within 30 milliseconds of each other. Fermi would have to move out of the way if the threat failed to recede. Because Fermi's thrusters were designed to de-orbit the satellite at the end of its mission, they had never before been used or tested, adding a new source of anxiety for the team.By Tuesday, April 3, the close approach was certain, and all plans were in place for firing Fermi's thrusters. The maneuver was performed by the spacecraft based on previously developed procedures. Fermi fired all thrusters for one second and was back doing science within the hour.Watch this video on YouTube. || ", "release_date": "2013-04-30T11:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:52:12.241780-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 467064, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a011200/a011229/Fermi_Collision_Avoidance_Still.jpg", "filename": "Fermi_Collision_Avoidance_Still.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Fermi Collision Avoidance Short videoFor complete transcript, click here.", "width": 1280, "height": 720, "pixels": 921600 } } }, { "id": 406028, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 12451, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12451/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Fermi Sees Gamma Rays from Far Side Solar Flares", "description": "On three occasions, NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has detected gamma rays from solar storms on the far side of the sun, emission the Earth-orbiting satellite shouldn't be able to detect. Particles accelerated by these eruptions somehow reach around to produce a gamma-ray glow on the side of the sun facing Earth and Fermi. Watch to learn more. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight CenterWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available.This illustration shows large magnetic structures extending high above the sun from the active region hosting the Sept. 1, 2014, solar blast. Left: Scientists think particles accelerated at the leading edge of the event's coronal mass ejection followed magnetic lines high above the sun. Right: Some of the particles followed similar magnetic structures rooted in the Earth-facing side of the sun. They rained down on the sun and interacted with the solar surface, producing gamma rays (magenta). The solar images shown here come from (left) STEREO B and (right) NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. Credit: NASA/STEREO and NASA/SDO || STEREO-SDO_Fermi_Still.jpg (1920x1080) [433.9 KB] || STEREO-SDO_Fermi_Still_searchweb.png (320x180) [101.1 KB] || STEREO-SDO_Fermi_Still_thm.png (80x40) [7.7 KB] || 12451_Fermi_Farside_Flares_ProRes_1920x1080_2997.mov (1920x1080) [2.5 GB] || 12451_Fermi_Farside_Flares_FINAL_youtube_hq.mov (1920x1080) [1.2 GB] || 12451_Fermi_Farside_Flares-H264_1080.mov (1920x1080) [286.5 MB] || 12451_Fermi_Farside_Flares-H264_Good_1080.m4v (1920x1080) [190.5 MB] || 12451_Fermi_Farside_Flares_FINAL_appletv.m4v (1280x720) [100.4 MB] || 12451_Fermi_Farside_Flares-H264_Compatible.m4v (960x540) [74.4 MB] || 12451_Fermi_Farside_Flares_FINAL_appletv_subtitles.m4v (1280x720) [100.5 MB] || 12451_Fermi_Farside_Flares-H264_Compatible.webm (960x540) [20.5 MB] || 12451_Fermi_Farside_Flares_SRT_Captions.en_US.srt [3.3 KB] || 12451_Fermi_Farside_Flares_SRT_Captions.en_US.vtt [3.3 KB] || ", "release_date": "2017-01-30T11:30:00-05:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:47:58.756546-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 417729, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a012400/a012451/STEREO-SDO_Fermi_Still.jpg", "filename": "STEREO-SDO_Fermi_Still.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "On three occasions, NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has detected gamma rays from solar storms on the far side of the sun, emission the Earth-orbiting satellite shouldn't be able to detect. Particles accelerated by these eruptions somehow reach around to produce a gamma-ray glow on the side of the sun facing Earth and Fermi. Watch to learn more. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight CenterWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available.This illustration shows large magnetic structures extending high above the sun from the active region hosting the Sept. 1, 2014, solar blast. Left: Scientists think particles accelerated at the leading edge of the event's coronal mass ejection followed magnetic lines high above the sun. Right: Some of the particles followed similar magnetic structures rooted in the Earth-facing side of the sun. They rained down on the sun and interacted with the solar surface, producing gamma rays (magenta). The solar images shown here come from (left) STEREO B and (right) NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. Credit: NASA/STEREO and NASA/SDO", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 } } }, { "id": 406029, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 11000, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11000/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "NASA's Fermi Detects the Highest-Energy Light from a Solar Flare", "description": "During a powerful solar blast in March, NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope detected the highest-energy light ever associated with an eruption on the sun. The discovery heralds Fermi's new role as a solar observatory, a powerful new tool for understanding solar outbursts during the sun's maximum period of activity.\"For most of Fermi's four years in orbit, its Large Area Telescope (LAT) saw the sun as a faint, steady gamma-ray source thanks to the impacts of high-speed particles called cosmic rays,\" said Nicola Omodei, an astrophysicist at Stanford University in California. \"Now we're beginning to see what the sun itself can do.\"A solar flare is an explosive blast of light and charged particles. The powerful March 7 flare, which earned a classification of X5.4 based on the peak intensity of its X-rays, is the strongest eruption so far observed by Fermi's LAT. The flare produced such an outpouring of gamma rays — a form of light with even greater energy than X-rays — that the sun briefly became the brightest object in the gamma-ray sky.At the flare's peak, the LAT detected gamma rays with two billion times the energy of visible light, or about 4 billion electron volts (GeV), easily setting a record for the highest-energy light ever detected during or just after a solar flare. The flux of high-energy gamma rays, defined as those with energies beyond 100 million electron volts (MeV), was 1,000 times greater than the sun's steady output. The March 7 flare also is notable for the persistence of its gamma-ray emission. Fermi's LAT detected high-energy gamma rays for about 20 hours, two and a half times longer than any event on record. Additionally, the event marks the first time a greater-than-100-MeV gamma-ray source has been localized to the sun's disk, thanks to the LAT's keen angular resolution. Flares and other eruptive solar events produce gamma rays by accelerating charged particles, which then collide with matter in the sun's atmosphere and visible surface. For instance, interactions among protons result in short-lived subatomic particles called pions, which produce high-energy gamma rays when they decay. Nuclei excited by collisions with lower-energy ions give off characteristic gamma rays as they settle down. Accelerated electrons emit gamma rays as they collide with protons and atomic nuclei.Solar eruptions are now on the rise as the sun progresses toward the peak of its roughly 11-year-long activity cycle, now expected in mid-2013. || ", "release_date": "2012-06-11T13:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:53:01.671992-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 475355, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a011000/a011000/LAT_all-sky_flare_March_7_2012_labels_small.jpg", "filename": "LAT_all-sky_flare_March_7_2012_labels_small.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "During a powerful solar blast in March, NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope detected the highest-energy light ever associated with an eruption on the sun. The discovery heralds Fermi's new role as a solar observatory, a powerful new tool for understanding solar outbursts during the sun's maximum period of activity.\"For most of Fermi's four years in orbit, its Large Area Telescope (LAT) saw the sun as a faint, steady gamma-ray source thanks to the impacts of high-speed particles called cosmic rays,\" said Nicola Omodei, an astrophysicist at Stanford University in California. \"Now we're beginning to see what the sun itself can do.\"A solar flare is an explosive blast of light and charged particles. The powerful March 7 flare, which earned a classification of X5.4 based on the peak intensity of its X-rays, is the strongest eruption so far observed by Fermi's LAT. The flare produced such an outpouring of gamma rays — a form of light with even greater energy than X-rays — that the sun briefly became the brightest object in the gamma-ray sky.At the flare's peak, the LAT detected gamma rays with two billion times the energy of visible light, or about 4 billion electron volts (GeV), easily setting a record for the highest-energy light ever detected during or just after a solar flare. The flux of high-energy gamma rays, defined as those with energies beyond 100 million electron volts (MeV), was 1,000 times greater than the sun's steady output. The March 7 flare also is notable for the persistence of its gamma-ray emission. Fermi's LAT detected high-energy gamma rays for about 20 hours, two and a half times longer than any event on record. Additionally, the event marks the first time a greater-than-100-MeV gamma-ray source has been localized to the sun's disk, thanks to the LAT's keen angular resolution. Flares and other eruptive solar events produce gamma rays by accelerating charged particles, which then collide with matter in the sun's atmosphere and visible surface. For instance, interactions among protons result in short-lived subatomic particles called pions, which produce high-energy gamma rays when they decay. Nuclei excited by collisions with lower-energy ions give off characteristic gamma rays as they settle down. Accelerated electrons emit gamma rays as they collide with protons and atomic nuclei.Solar eruptions are now on the rise as the sun progresses toward the peak of its roughly 11-year-long activity cycle, now expected in mid-2013.", "width": 469, "height": 903, "pixels": 423507 } } }, { "id": 406030, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 3747, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3747/", "page_type": "Visualization", "title": "Terrestrial Gamma Flashes (TGFs) from Fermi with Static Earth", "description": "In this visualization, we plot the timing and locations of terrestrial gamma flashes (TGFs) observed by the Gamma Ray Burst Monitor aboard the Fermi Gamma-ray observatory.One version of the map includes the global lightning probability (the light blue glow overlaying the global map) which varies with season. We see that TGFs are roughly correlated with lightning probability. || ", "release_date": "2011-01-10T17:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:53:55.452534-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 490875, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003700/a003747/FermiTGF.static.0880.jpg", "filename": "FermiTGF.static.0880.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "This movie plays the terrestrial gamma flashes with a daily lighting map (blue glow) as background.", "width": 1280, "height": 640, "pixels": 819200 } } }, { "id": 406031, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 3748, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3748/", "page_type": "Visualization", "title": "Terrestrial Gamma Flashes (TGFs) from Fermi with Seasonal Earth", "description": "In this visualization, we plot the timing and locations of terrestrial gamma flashes (TGFs) observed by the Gamma Ray Burst Monitor aboard the Fermi Gamma-ray observatory.This version of the map includes the global lightning probability (the light blue glow overlaying the global map) which varies with season. The Earth's surface also illustrates some seasonal variations. We see that TGFs are roughly correlated with lightning probability, and the lightning probability correlated with seaons. There is more lightning in the summer season. || ", "release_date": "2011-01-10T17:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:53:55.517463-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 490891, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003700/a003748/FermiTGF.light.0880.jpg", "filename": "FermiTGF.light.0880.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "This movie plays the terrestrial gamma flashes with a daily lighting map (blue glow) and seasonally-varying Earth as background.", "width": 1280, "height": 640, "pixels": 819200 } } }, { "id": 406032, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 10900, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10900/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Antimatter Explosions", "description": "Thunderstorms produce more than just lightning. As these powerful storms roll over Earth, their electric fields can eject a burst of gamma rays known as a terrestrial gamma-ray flash. And now scientists have discovered that these flashes also create the asymmetrical opposite of matter—antimatter. NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope was designed to monitor gamma rays, the highest-energy form of light, in outer space. But it also observes these flashes from thunderstorms. In 2009, Fermi detected gamma rays from a thunderstorm that was located well beyond the horizon from where it could directly observe the storm. So where did the rays come from? When antimatter collides with matter, the particles annihilate and emit gamma rays. This means the gamma rays detected by Fermi could only have come from an antimatter collision with the spacecraft itself, providing the first-ever clue that these Earth-bound storms can send antimatter into space. In the videos below, see a map of terrestrial gamma-ray flashes detected by Fermi and a breakdown of how this explosive, mysterious process unfolds. || ", "release_date": "2012-01-31T00:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:53:18.384431-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 479656, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010900/a010900/tgf_cover_1024x576.jpg", "filename": "tgf_cover_1024x576.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "A NASA spacecraft discovers antimatter bursts released by thunderstorms.", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } } } ], "extra_data": {} } ] }