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Fermi
The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (FGST)—formerly the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST)—is an international project initiated by NASA in partnership with French, German, Italian, Japanese and Swedish research laboratories. The telescope is designed to detect the extragalactic gamma-ray background (EGB) and gain new insights into the most energetic events in the Universe. Fermi was launched on 11 June 2008 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, by a Delta II launch vehicle.
Gamma rays are generated by the most extreme phenomena in the cosmos, such as pulsars, i.e. exploding dying stars, and galaxies hosting supermassive black holes. With its Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) and new-generation Large Area Telescope (LAT), Fermi has already detected a thousand sources including galactic core jets, young pulsars and millisecond pulsars, gamma-ray binaries and supernova remnants.
This space mission is funded by NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE), with contributions from numerous laboratories. In France, the CENBG (Centre d’Études Nucléaires de Bordeaux-Gradignan), the LLR (Laboratoire Leprince-Ringuet at the Ecole Polytechnique), the LUPM (Laboratoire Univers et Particules in Montpellier) and the Astrophysics department at the French atomic energy and alternative energies commission (CEA/Sap) in Saclay are taking part in the mission, with support from CNES.
Mission's news feed
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Solar snake spotted slithering across Sun’s surface
Solar Orbiter has spotted a ‘tube’ of cooler atmospheric gases snaking its way through the Sun’s magnetic field, a precursor to a much larger eruption.
November 14, 2022
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[Solar Orbiter] Sensational pictures of the Sun
ESA’s space probe recently had a first close encounter with the Sun, sending back unprecedented pictures of our star and giving mission teams the opportunity to make sure its 10...
May 18, 2022
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Zooming into the Sun with Solar Orbiter
This image is a mosaic of 25 individual images taken on 7 March by the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager, EUI.
March 24, 2022