Latest Enrico Fermi Stories

[ Watch the Video: Fermi's Close Call with a Soviet Satellite ] Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online NASA said on Tuesday its Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope was able to dodge a 1.5-ton bullet in space. Julie McEnery, a project scientist for Fermi, opened her email at the end of March and found an automatically generated report arrived from NASA's Robotic Conjunction Assessment Risk Analysis (CARA) team. The document said Fermi was just one week away from an...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 14, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new study using observations from NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope reveals the first clear-cut evidence the expanding debris of exploded stars produces some of the fastest-moving matter in the universe. This discovery is a major step toward understanding the origin of cosmic rays, one of Fermi's primary mission goals. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) "Scientists have been trying to find the...

John P. Millis, Ph.D. for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online For much of the last century, scientists have been searching for a mysterious substance thought to make up about 85 percent of the total mass of the Universe. Without it, galactic rotation curves, galaxy interactions and the very structure of the Universe are inconsistent with our knowledge of physics. Yet, this so-called dark matter remains elusive. One reason researchers have had such a difficult time finding and...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 29, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA will hold a media teleconference at 2 p.m. EDT on Thursday, Nov. 1, to discuss new measurements using gamma rays to investigate ancient starlight with the agency's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO ) Science Journal has embargoed details until 2 p.m. on Nov. 1. The teleconference panelists are: - Justin Finke, astrophysicist, Naval Research Laboratory,...

April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Scientists have long believed that spacetime is foamy, like a freshly pulled draft beer, but new information from an intergalactic photo finish shows it might just be as smooth as a single malt whiskey, instead. Robert Nemiroff, a physicist at Michigan Technological University, reached this conclusion after studying the tracings of three photons of differing wavelengths that had been recorded by NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope...

DETROIT, July 2, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Jack M. Davis, senior vice president and chief nuclear officer at DTE Energy's Fermi 2 Nuclear Power Plant, has announced that he is retiring at the end of this year. The DTE Energy Board of Directors has named Joseph H. Plona, currently site vice president, to replace Davis as senior vice president and chief nuclear officer, effective Sept. 1. Plona will report to Steven Kurmas, president and chief operating officer of Detroit Edison, who will assume...

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com NASA said that its Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope detected the highest-energy light ever associated with an eruption on the sun on March 7. The latest discovery, according to the space agency, is echoing in Fermi's new role as a solar observatory, which is a tool that is being used to understand solar outbursts. The March 7 flare was a class X5.4, and is the strongest eruption so far observed by Fermi's Large Area Telescope (LAT). "For most of Fermi's...

NEWPORT, Mich., May 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Fermi 2 Nuclear Power Plant returned to service today when operators synchronized the plant to DTE Energy's electrical system, following a safe, successful refueling and maintenance outage that began March 26. Currently operating at about 25 percent power, the plant will gradually increase to full power over the next several days. "The Fermi 2 team completed an enormous amount of work during the outage, while always keeping safety as...

[ Watch the Video ] 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...

[ Watch the Video ] The human eye is crucial to astronomy. Without the ability to see, the luminous universe of stars, planets and galaxies would be closed to us, unknown forever. Nevertheless, astronomers cannot shake their fascination with the invisible. Outside the realm of human vision is an entire electromagnetic spectrum of wonders. Each type of light--­from radio waves to gamma-rays--reveals something unique about the universe. Some wavelengths are best for studying black holes;...