Latest Fermi Stories

WASHINGTON, Dec. 6, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- 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. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) The outbursts, known as terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs), last only a few thousandths of a second,...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 1, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- 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 amount of light from all of the stars that have ever shone, accomplishing a primary mission goal. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO ) "The optical and ultraviolet light from stars continues to travel throughout the universe even after...

[ Watch the Video: NASA's Fermi Explores the Early Universe ] Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Astronomers have made the most accurate measurement of starlight in the universe and have used this to establish the total amount of light from all of the stars that have ever shone. A team used data from NASA's Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope to find the total sum of starlight in the universe, or the extragalactic background light (EBL). Gamma rays are the most...

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...

[ Watch the Video ] Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online A special gamma-ray pulsar with the hiccups has been discovered by researchers from the Max Planck Institutes for Gravitational Physics and Radio Astronomy (MPIfR) using data constructed from the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. The pulsar J1838-0537 is very young, and has experienced the strongest rotation glitch ever observed for a gamma-ray-only pulsar. Pure gamma-ray pulsars are difficult to identify...

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...

24 Groups and Individuals Seek Suspension of Final Agency Decisions on Reactors in States of AL, CA, FL, MD, MI, MS, MO, NH, OH, PA, SC, TN, TX and VA. WASHINGTON, June 18, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) must not make final licensing decisions until it has completed a rulemaking action on the environmental impacts of highly radioactive nuclear waste in the form of spent, or 'used', reactor fuel storage and disposal, as required under the...

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...

WASHINGTON, June 11, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- 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. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) A solar flare is an explosive blast of light and...