Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope

2010 News

Dec 28, 2010

Fermi Cycle-4 Proposal Deadline

Proposals to the Fermi Cycle-4 Guest Investigator Program are due on January 21, 2011. Please refer to the FSSC Proposal web page for details.

Nov 9, 2010

NASA's Fermi Telescope Finds Giant Structure in our Galaxy

NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has unveiled a previously unseen structure centered in the Milky Way. The feature spans 50,000 light-years and may be the remnant of an eruption from a supersized black hole at the center of our galaxy.
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Nov 2, 2010

NASA's Fermi Finds Giant, Previously Unseen Structure In Our Galaxy

NASA will hold a media teleconference at 2:30 p.m. EST on Tuesday, Nov. 9, to discuss a new discovery by the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Gamma rays are the highest-energy form of light. The soon-to-be published findings include the discovery of enormous but previously unrecognized "gamma-ray bubbles" centered in the Milky Way.
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Oct 26, 2010

Regional Workshops

Fermi is offering a series of regional workshops for Fall 2010 that discuss basic data analysis methods, showcase Fermi - related science results, and provide assistance with Fermi Guest Investigator proposals. For schedules, registration, and more information, please see the 2010 Regional Workshops page.

Oct 14, 2010

Two NASA Goddard Fermi Scientists Win Lindsay Award

Two scientists on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope mission employed at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. were recipients of the 45th Annual John C. Lindsay Memorial Award last week. The award was bestowed upon Dr Julie McEnery and Dr. David Thompson
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Sep 24, 2010

New Python Scripts

New pyLikelihood scripts for generating spectral plots for LAT data using unbinned likelihood, binned likelihood, and binned extended source analysis are now available as user-contributed software. We appreciate user contributions, which continue to increase Fermi Science Tools capabilities.
» User contributed software

Sep 8, 2010

New Fermi Science Tools Release

A new version of the Fermi Science Tools is now available. This version includes multiple bug fixes as well as improved support for Linux and MAC operating systems (including Fedora 13, Ubuntu 9.10 & 10.04, and OSX-intel Snow Leopard). Release notes are available here.
» Download & Installation

Sep 2, 2010

Fermi-Swift GRB Data Analysis Workshop

This workshop, which will introduce participants to Fermi and Swift GRB data analysis, will be held here in Greenbelt from November 8th-12th.
» Learn more

Aug 26, 2010

Fermi-Swift GRB Data Analysis Workshop

This workshop, which will introduce participants to Fermi and Swift GRB data analysis, will be held here in Greenbelt from November 8th-12th.
» Learn more

Aug 12, 2010

Fermi Detects 'Shocking' Surprise from Supernova's Little Cousin

Astronomers using NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope have detected gamma-rays from a nova for the first time, a finding that stunned observers and theorists alike. The discovery overturns the notion that novae explosions lack the power to emit such high-energy radiation.
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Jun 18, 2010

Orbital Marks Second Anniversary of Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope Mission

Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB) is celebrating the second anniversary of the launch of the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope spacecraft, which has performed flawlessly over the initial two years of its mission to supply scientists with important new data about the nature of the universe. In the second year of operation the spacecraft, which is based on the mid-class low-Earth orbit platform that Orbital recently acquired, established an overall system availability of 100%, providing continuous scientific data and enabling the mission team to lower costs by reducing staff needed for routine spacecraft operations.
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May 18, 2010

New GBM Data Analysis Tool

The GBM team has provided a new analysis tool for GRBs and other GBM data. The RMFIT tool will create lightcurves, fit backgrounds, and fit single or multiple spectra for NaI and BGO detectors. While RMFIT is not a part of the standard Science Tools package, you can find it on the user-contributed software page along with a useful tutorial. For questions regarding RMFIT, please contact the Fermi helpdesk.

May 13, 2010

Fermi Cycle 3: List of Approved Guest Investigations

The phase-1 selection process for the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope Guest Investigator Program has been completed. A list of the titles and abstracts of the selected programs is available here

Apr 13, 2010

Multiwavelength Coordination is Important

The recent ToO on 3C 454.3 serves as a reminder of the need for community input on multiwavelength coordination with Fermi. In evaluating the impact of a ToO, we review scheduled or ongoing multiwavelength observations that have been reported to the FSSC. To ensure your planned observations are taken into consideration, please provide details via our multiwavelength reporting page.
» Learn More

Apr 5, 2010

Fermi Initiates First Approved TOO

The first approved TOO for the Fermi mission was initiated at 19:38 UTC on April 5, 2010. The 200ks observation was approved to observe the current extraordinary outburst of the blazar 3C 454.3. We greatly encourage multiwavelength observations of this source over the next three days.

Apr 1, 2010

Fermi Maps an Active Galaxy's 'Smokestack Plumes'

If our eyes could see radio waves, the nearby galaxy Centaurus A (Cen A) would be one of the biggest and brightest objects in the sky, nearly 20 times the apparent size of a full moon. What we can't see when looking at the galaxy in visible light is that it lies nestled between a pair of giant radio-emitting gas plumes ejected by its supersized black hole. Each plume is nearly a million light-years long.
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Mar 2, 2010

NASA's Fermi Probes "Dragons" of the Gamma-ray Sky

One of the pleasures of perusing ancient maps is locating regions so poorly explored that mapmakers warned of dragons and sea monsters. Now, astronomers using NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope find themselves in the same situation as cartographers of old. A new study of the ever-present fog of gamma rays from sources outside our galaxy shows that less than a third of the emission arises from what astronomers once considered the most likely suspects -- black-hole-powered jets from active galaxies.
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Feb 16, 2010

NASA's Fermi Closes on Source of Cosmic Rays

New images from NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope show where supernova remnants emit radiation a billion times more energetic than visible light. The images bring astronomers a step closer to understanding the source of some of the universe's most energetic particles -- cosmic rays.
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Jan 22, 2010

Power Restored at SLAC

Power has been restored at SLAC and the LAT science data deliveries are proceeding as normal.

Jan 20, 2010

LAT Data Latency Update

An extended power outage at SLAC has interrupted level 1 processing of the LAT science data. This has resulted in a significant latency for new LAT deliveries. We expect data deliveries to resume as soon as power is restored.

Jan 14, 2010

LAT 1-year Point Source Catalog Released

The first catalog of Fermi-LAT sources has been released and is available for download. The catalog is provided as a FITS table along with important caveats, and is accompanied by a catalog paper preprint. Potential Fermi guest investigators may find this catalog very useful when preparing proposals for Cycle 3 (deadline is Feb. 5).
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Jan 7, 2010

Fermi Cycle-3 GI Proposal Deadline Feb 5th

The Fermi Cycle-3 Guest Investigator Proposals are due February 5, 2010.
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Jan 5, 2010

Nature's Most Precise Clocks May Make "Galactic GPS" Possible

Radio astronomers have uncovered 17 millisecond pulsars in our galaxy by studying unknown high-energy sources detected by NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. The astronomers made the discovery in less than three months. Such a jump in the pace of locating these hard-to-find objects holds the promise of using them as a kind of "galactic GPS" to detect gravitational waves passing near Earth.
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