[ad_1]
A visual created by NASA representing constellations of gamma rays, including The Hulk and the Eiffel Tower.(Photo: NASA)
Move, Orion and Ursa Major. Make room for Godzilla and The Hulk.
Scientists with NASA's Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope collected a series of modern constellations based on sources in the gamma ray sky, which is invisible to humans. Although amusing, NASA notes that the new constellations are not official.
The new constellations feature familiar names including Albert Einstein, The Hulk, Godzilla and TARDIS from "Doctor Who".
The constellations were created to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Fermi Telescope.
"Developing these unofficial constellations was a fun way to highlight a decade of Fermi's accomplishments," said Julie McEnery, chief scientist of the Fermi project at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, in a statement.
Fermi searched for sources of gamma rays, the light of the highest energy in the universe. Sources include pulsars, supernova explosions debris and supermassive black holes.
The telescope has identified 3,000 different sources of gamma radiation, ten times more than scientists knew before the launch of Fermi in 2008.
"For the first time, the number of known gamma ray sources was comparable to the number of bright stars, so we thought that a new set of constellations was a great way to illustrate this point." said Elizabeth Ferrara, of Goddard. Space Flight Center and managed the constellation project.
Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @ brettmolina23.
When the 2018 EB asteroid flew over the Earth in early October, scientists noticed that it was a single double asteroid.
Buzz60
Read or share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/10/19/nasa-creates-unofficial-constellations-godzilla-hulk-tardis/1693647002/
[ad_2]
Source link
