This week in 2008, our Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope launched. Since then it has been our eyes on the gamma-ray sky! Follow this thread for some science highlights, and read more about Fermi and gamma rays in this Tumblr post: tmblr.co/Zz_Uqj2TjyFug #FermiFriday
Some of the universe’s brightest sources of light are black holes in the centers of galaxies! Black holes can turn galaxies into cosmic flashlights, and our Fermi telescope is helping us learn more about them: tmblr.co/Zz_Uqj2VhC7pa
Did you know our Milky Way galaxy is blowing bubbles? Two of them, each 25,000 light-years tall! They extend above and below the disk of the galaxy, like the two halves of an hourglass. We can’t see them, but our Fermi telescope can, in gamma-ray light: tmblr.co/Zz_Uqj2dMNkMX
In 2017 Fermi detected a powerful, short gamma-ray burst located 130 million light-years away. @NSF’s LIGO also detected gravitational waves from this pair of colliding neutron stars, kicking off a new era of coordinated gravity and light studies. More: tmblr.co/Zz_Uqj2R2ArnX
Thunderstorms are the most powerful natural particle accelerators on Earth! Our Fermi telescope has caught them producing gamma rays, the highest-energy form of light: tmblr.co/Zz_Uqj2WlJVzG
Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.
A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.