Astronomy Picture of the Day

Simulated Gamma-ray Sky


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#87843 by @ 01.06.2006 00:00 - nach oben -
Simulated Gamma-ray Sky


Explanation:

Scheduled for launch in 2007, the
Gamma-ray Large Area Space
Telescope
(GLAST) will explore the Universe in
gamma-rays, the most energetic form of light.

To get ready, consider this dynamic gamma-ray sky animation -
constructed from simulating the first 55 days (seen above at
one frame per day) of GLAST observations of cosmic gamma-ray sources.

The all-sky view is projected in an astronomical (RA-Dec)
coordinate
system that shows the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy as a
broad U-shape, with the center of the galaxy toward the right.

So what shines in this
gamma-ray sky?

Besides the diffuse Milky Way glow, astronomers testing their
skills on the simulated data have found flaring
active galaxies,
pulsars,
gamma-ray
bursts
, the
flaring
Sun
, and of course, the
gamma-ray Moon.




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