NASA's Gamma-Ray Telescope Is Ready For Work

By Michael Todd
15:53, June 12th 2008
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NASA's Gamma-Ray Telescope Is Ready For Work

NASA’s new gamma-ray telescope was cleared for take-off yesterday, after several concerns about the weather conditions that were quickly dismissed by the official reports, and was carried into orbit by the Delta II rocket at 12:05 EDT.

The telescope was launched from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, attached to a United Launch Alliance's Delta II Heavy rocket.

According to NASA, the launch was a complete success without any sort of incidents and the powerful telescope is now set to help scientists observe numerous gamma-ray sources and also better understand the components and development of black holes and many other such formations.

NASA’s official description referred of the GLAST as "a powerful space observatory that will explore the most extreme environments in the universe, and search for signs of new laws of physics and what composes the mysterious dark matter, explain how black holes accelerate immense jets of material to nearly light speed, and help crack the mysteries of the staggeringly powerful explosions known as gamma-ray bursts (GRBs)".

Gamma rays are a form of radiation with an immense charge of power, being millions of times more energetic than visible light.

The designing and building of the telescope demanded the input of a significant number of engineers and physicists. The UCSC team composed of approximately 12 undergraduates, six graduate students and also five postdoctoral physicists was monitored and led by physicist Robert Johnson and adjunct professor of physics Bill Atwood.

The telescope’s two main components are the large area telescope, which uses a UCSC-engineered gamma ray detecting system named the Tracker and a burst monitor.

The space observatory demanded an investment on about $690 million and the device will offer new possibilities and help in numerous researches. The plan demands the telescope to stay up for at least five years and map out the entire sky roughly every three hours.



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