GLAST renamed Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope

William Atkins
Wednesday, 27 August 2008 18:27

Science - Space

In addition, the Fermi’s GBM has identified 31 gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) over the first month of its operations.

GRBs are high-energy explosions that seemingly come from random locations around the universe. As the most luminous events found in the universe, they occur when gigantic stars die or when orbiting neutron stars spiral together and merge as one.

GRBs may last for a few milliseconds or as long as several minutes.

NASA states that the GBM and the LAT will “… provide an unprecedented look across a broad gamma-ray spectrum, enabling scientists to peer into the processes powering these events.”

The Fermi space telescope program was jointly developed by NASA, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and the space agencies of France (CNES, Centre National d'Études Spatiales), Germany (DLR, German Aerospace Center or Deutsches Zentrum für Luft-und Raumfahrt e.V.), Italy (ASI, Italian Space Agency or Agenzia Spaziale Italiana), Japan (JAXA, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), and Sweden (Swedish National Space Board or Rymdstyrelsen).

For more information on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, check out NASA GLAST.