GLAST in orbit---and tutorials on gammaray astonomy

[Martin]

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GLAST/main/index.html

 

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080611143818.htm

Any further news?

 

This page has some tutorials about why gammaray astronomy is especially interesting

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GLAST/science/index.html

 

here is an example of one of them

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GLAST/science/blazers.html

which is about the jets sent out (by a mechanism not fully understood) from the supermassive black holes at the center of some galaxies

here is another of their tutorials, about gammaray bursts (GRBs)

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GLAST/science/gammay_ray_bursts.html

 

For me, I guess this branch of observational astronomy is the most exciting. It is where i anticipate the most new information being discovered. These processes (jets from supermassive holes, bursts from star collapse and collisions) are the least understood and till now least well observed.

 

GLAST is not the only means of observation. There are groundbase Cherenkov telescopes that can "see" the track of a single TeV gamma photon in the atmosphere. One TeV is an amazing amount of energy, for a single photon.

 

GLAST will be recording bursts of lower energy than that. Like in the GeV or less range, I think. But that is already extreme.

 

visible light goes up to a few eV

what is called Xray goes up to a few tens of keV, like 50 keV.

So when we start talking MeV light it is light of a whole other range of energy

 

it will take some getting used to. I feel unreal talking about GeV and TeV photons. Like I must be dreaming or making a mistake. But that is what the new observational astronomy is about.

 

Anybody have a different take? different perspective on this?

Edited June 16, 2008 by Martin