November, 2007 in Space | 2 comments | Post a comment

Window on the Extreme Universe [ FREE PREVIEW ]

The GLAST satellite is about to open up an unexplored region of the electromagnetic spectrum--just the region, in fact, where signs of dark matter and other mysterious phenomena may show up

By William B. Atwood, Peter F. Michelson and Steven Ritz

 
Email this Article Print this Article    Text Size Graphic Decrease font Enlarge font  
Share
  Review it on NewsTrust    Add to Mixx!  Fark 
 


SLIM FILMS

This coming spring scientists will open dramatic new views of the universe. NASA plans to launch the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) to explore exotic environments such as those of supermassive black holes and neutron stars, which generate enormous power in high-energy gamma rays. Around the same time, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, the European laboratory for particle physics near Geneva, will begin providing an unparalleled view of nature’s fundamental building blocks and their interactions at the smallest distances. GLAST may probe some of the same microscopic phenomena as the LHC does and show us how these processes work in their natural cosmic settings. Such exciting and revolutionary times in science are rare.

Gamma rays are electromagnetic radiation at the highest-energy, or shortest-wavelength, end of the electromagnetic spectrum. Vastly more energetic than optical light or even x-rays, gamma-ray photons each carry so much energy that it is possible to convert some of that energy into particles of matter, through processes that are implied by Albert Einstein’s famous E = mc2 relation.

Graphic - Get the Rest of the Article
Graphic - Get the Rest of the Article
Digital Subscriber? Sign-in Now


Discuss


Click here to submit your comment.

VIEW:

    loading comments...
  • The following is a direct response to this comment.
    {BODY}

You will be asked to sign in or register as a SciAm.com member when you click submit.
 
2,573 characters remaining
 
  Email me when someone responds to this discussion.

Subscription Center


ADVERTISEMENT



© 1996-2008 Scientific American Inc. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
ADVERTISEMENT