Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope

2012 News

Dec 06, 2012

Fermi Improves its Vision for Thunderstorm Gamma-Ray Flashes

Thanks to improved data analysis techniques and a new operating mode, the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) aboard NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is now 10 times better at catching the brief outbursts of high-energy light mysteriously produced above thunderstorms.
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Nov 01, 2012

NASA'S Fermi Measures Cosmic 'Fog' Produced by Ancient Starlight

Astronomers using data from NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope have made the most accurate measurement of starlight in the universe and used it to establish the total number of stars that have ever shone, accomplishing a primary mission goal.
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Oct 23, 2012

FSSC Downtime

A significant upgrade to our computer facilities is scheduled for the weekend of October 27-28. The Fermi data server and FSSC webpages will be offline for a significant fraction of that time. We hope to restore normal operations by Monday Oct 29.

Oct 22, 2012

Cycle-6 NRA has been issued. GI Proposals are due on January 18, 2013

The call for proposal to participate in the Fermi Cycle-6 Guest Investigator Program has been issued by NASA Headquarters as an amendment to the 2012 ROSES NRA. The Cycle-6 program includes several new opportunities for guest investigations. Two new joint-observation programs have been established with the VERITAS collaboration and the Arecibo Observatory. For additional details and instructions on how to propose please refer to the Proposals page of the FSSC web site and to the NRA itself which is available through the NSPIRES web facility maintained by NASA HQ.

Sep 27, 2012

Semi-Automated Analysis Tool for Fermi GBM Data

The Fermi Science Support Center is pleased to announce the availability of software to facilitate semi-automated analysis of Fermi GBM data. The software is capable of a fully automated analysis using the information provided in the data file headers but also allows the user to customize the analysis. As with any automated analysis care needs to be taken in interpreting the results and a careful reading of the associated documentation is recommended. The software and documentation are available from the FSSC User-Contributed Software download page.

Jul 31, 2012

New Funding Opportunity for Fermi Cycle 6: VERITAS and Fermi Joint Program

The VERITAS team and the Fermi Science Support Center are pleased to announce a pilot program for the Fermi Cycle 6 GI Program that supports collaborative efforts to jointly observe high-energy gamma-ray sources with VERITAS and Fermi. Successful proposals will be selected on a competitive basis via the Fermi Cycle 6 proposal review. Details of the program are described in the VERITAS-Fermi Collaborative Agreement. Further information is available at the FSSC website.

Jul 25, 2012

Aperture Photometry Light Curves

The Fermi Science Support Center is pleased to announce the availability of LAT light curves obtained using aperture photometry for all sources in the 2FGL catalog. The light curves have 30 day time resolution and are provided as ASCII files with corresponding plots. The light curves are intended to provide a quick way to inspect gross features in the long-term source behavior. The light curves, plots, and details of the analysis, together with caveats on their use can be found at: http://fermi.gsfc.nasa.gov/ssc/data/access/.

Jul 17, 2012

GBM News

The GBM data delivery system has recently experienced problems owing to high count rates during periods of intense solar activity. The large number of triggers has caused downlink and processing delays. The GBM instrument team has implemented two changes to restore data quality, improve latencies, and ensure consistent delivery which are described in detail on the data caveats page.

Jun 11, 2012

NASA's Fermi Detects the Highest-Energy Light From a Solar Flare

During a powerful solar blast on March 7, NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope detected the highest-energy light ever associated with an eruption on the sun. The discovery heralds Fermi's new role as a solar observatory, a powerful new tool for understanding solar outbursts during the sun's maximum period of activity.
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May 20, 2012

Fermi Solar Data Analysis Workshop

We are pleased to announce the Fermi Solar Data Analysis Workshop to be held at Goddard Space Flight Center on August 22-23, 2012.
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May 1, 2012

Cycle 5 Selected Programs Released

The stage-I selection process for the Fermi Cycle-5 proposal process has been completed. A list of selected programs can be accessed from the Proposals Page.

Apr 20, 2012

New Fermi Science Tools version released

The FSSC is pleased to announce the availability of a new version of the Fermi Science Tools (v9r27p1) along with updated pass 7 data. These data files have the LAT diffuse response columns populated with values from the updated gtdiffrsp tool, and several other updates detailed in the release notes. The new tools are available at the software download page, and the new data are now being served by the Fermi LAT data server.

Apr 2, 2012

Fermi Observations of Dwarf Galaxies Provide New Insights on Dark Matter

There's more to the cosmos than meets the eye. About 80 percent of the matter in the universe is invisible to telescopes, yet its gravitational influence is manifest in the orbital speeds of stars around galaxies and in the motions of clusters of galaxies. Yet, despite decades of effort, no one knows what this "dark matter" really is. Many scientists think it's likely that the mystery will be solved with the discovery of new kinds of subatomic particles, types necessarily different from those composing atoms of the ordinary matter all around us. The search to detect and identify these particles is underway in experiments both around the globe and above it.
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Feb 14, 2012

Aperture Photometry Script

A script to generate LAT light curves using aperture photometry is now available as part of the Fermi user-contributed software collection. Also available in user-contributed software is a script to make LAT light curves using likelihood analysis (like_lc.pl).

Jan 31, 2012

Scheduled Downtime

The FSSC will be offline for several hours beginning at 9:30 am ET Thursday, Feb. 2nd due to facilities maintenance. This outage will affect both web and data servers. We expect to resume normal operation by 2:00 pm ET.

Jan 25, 2012

The Fermi Cycle-5 Proposal Deadline Has Passed

As of the Friday, January 20,2012 deadline, NASA received a total of 221 proposals in response to the Fermi Cycle-5 NRA. The first stage of the Cycle-5 selection process, a scientific peer-review evaluation of these proposals, will occur in the early spring of 2012. The results of that first stage selection process will be announced in the April 2012 time frame.

Jan 12, 2012

Fermi Cycle-5 ARK/RPS Site Back Up - Proposal Deadline is Rapidly Approaching!

Reminder: Fermi Cycle-5 Guest Investigator Proposals are due on January 20, 2012. Please refer to the proposals page for details on how to prepare and submit a proposal. We look forward to your participation in Fermi mission cycle 5.

Jan 11, 2012

Fermi Cycle-5 ARK/RPS Proposal Submission Site Down

The Fermi Cycle-5 ARK/RPS proposal submission site is currently unavailable due to technical issues. We hope to have it restored shortly and we apologize for any inconvenience. Cycle-5 proposals are still due by 4:30 EST January 20, 2012.

Jan 10, 2012

NASA's Fermi Space Telescope Explores New Energy Extremes

After more than three years in space, NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is extending its view of the high-energy sky into a largely unexplored electromagnetic range. Today, the Fermi team announced its first census of energy sources in this new realm.
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Jan 9, 2012

Cycle-5 Proposal Deadline is Rapidly Approaching!

Reminder: Fermi Cycle-5 Guest Investigator Proposals are due on January 20, 2012. Please refer to the proposals page for details on how to prepare and submit a proposal. We look forward to your participation in Fermi mission cycle 5.