Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope

2015 News

Nov 13, 2015

NASA's Fermi Mission Finds Hints of Gamma-ray Cycle in an Active Galaxy

Astronomers using data from NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope have detected hints of periodic changes in the brightness of a so-called "active" galaxy, whose emissions are powered by a supersized black hole.
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Nov 12, 2015

NASA's Fermi Satellite Detects First Gamma-ray Pulsar in Another Galaxy

Researchers using NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope have discovered the first gamma-ray pulsar in a galaxy other than our own. The object sets a new record for the most luminous gamma-ray pulsar known.
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Sep 08, 2015

Weekly Photon Files with Diffuse Response Columns

Filtered weekly photon files with diffuse response columns added are now available. These files may be useful for unbinned analysis where the calculation of diffuse responses can be computationally expensive. The files have been selected on zenith angle, energy range, event class (source) and event type (front+back) and so may not be suitable for all types of analysis.
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Aug 18, 2015

Sixth Fermi Symposium

The Sixth International Fermi Symposium will be held in Washington DC, Nov 9-13, 2015. This meeting will focus on the scientific investigations and results enabled by Fermi, the mission and instrument characteristics, future opportunities, and coordinated observations and analyses. Abstract submission deadline is September 14, 2015. Registration deadline is October 31, 2015.
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Aug 03, 2015

Fermi-LAT Data Issue

There was a small glitch in Fermi-LAT data processing that has caused problems with a small amount of LAT data. This involved a problem with the detector calibration constants used in the LAT data processing pipeline that affected all the data corresponding to UTC 2015-07-27 19:04:46.642804 to 2015-07-30 11:03:18.085494. Click here for more details.
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Jul 10, 2015

NASA's Fermi Sees Record Flare from a Black Hole in a Distant Galaxy

Five billion years ago, a great disturbance rocked a region near the monster black hole at the center of galaxy 3C 279. On June 14, the pulse of high-energy light produced by this event finally arrived at Earth, setting off detectors aboard NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and other satellites. Astronomers around the world turned instruments toward the galaxy to observe this brief but record-setting flare in greater detail.
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Jul 3, 2015

Astronomers Predict Fireworks from Rare Stellar Encounter in 2018

Astronomers are gearing up for high-energy fireworks coming in early 2018, when a stellar remnant the size of a city meets one of the brightest stars in our galaxy. The cosmic light show will occur when a pulsar discovered by NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope swings by its companion star. Scientists plan a global campaign to watch the event from radio wavelengths to the highest-energy gamma rays detectable.
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Jun 30, 2015

NASA Missions Monitor a Waking Black Hole

NASA's Swift satellite detected a rising tide of high-energy X-rays from the constellation Cygnus on June 15, just before 2:32 p.m. EDT. About 10 minutes later, the Japanese experiment on the International Space Station called the Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image (MAXI) also picked up the flare.
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Jun 26, 2015

Stage-I Selections for the Cycle-8 GI Program Completed

The stage-I selections for the Cycle-8 Guest Investigator Program have now been completed. A list is available here. The selection letters and peer evaluations will be distributed in the near future.

Jun 24, 2015

Pass 8 Data Available for the LAT

The FSSC is pleased to announce the availability of Pass 8 data for the LAT. The Pass 8 data have been reprocessed from the raw data using the latest calibrations and updates. The improvements include a better PSF, improved energy measurement, and increased acceptance across the whole energy band. This data release includes a new method for sub-selecting photons from the event data. In order to analyze Pass 8 data you must upgrade to the new v10r0p5 version of the Fermi science tools.
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Mar 9, 2015

Aperture Photometry Light Curves for LAT 3FGL Catalog Sources

Aperture photometry light curves of all 3FGL sources with 30 day time resolution, together with power spectra of these, are now available. These will normally be updated weekly. In addition, results of an automatic search for flaring 3FGL sources are also provided with weekly updates. Light curves and power spectra are here. Flaring sources are here.

Feb 26, 2014

Production of CTTE Data Resumed

The GBM team has resumed production of continuous Time-Tagged Event (CTTE) data and nominal operations.

Feb 23, 2015

CTTE Data Temporarily Disabled

The GBM team has temporarily disabled the production of continuous Time-Tagged Event (CTTE) data and will produce TTE data only when in triggered mode.
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Jan 9, 2015

Third Catalog of Fermi-LAT Sources Released

The 3FGL catalog is based on the first four years of LAT science data. It contains 3033 sources of gamma-rays from 100 MeV to 300 GeV. The catalog is provided as a FITS table and as PDF files, and is accompanied by important caveats as well as a draft of the paper describing the details of the catalog preparation. The 3FGL catalog represents a major milestone and is a great accomplishment by the international Fermi-LAT team.
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