Gamma rays are more than 10,000 times more energetic than visible light. If you could "see" gamma rays [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…], the night sky would seem very different indeed. The bright object in the center of the false color gamma-ray image above is quasar [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] 3C279, a nondescript, faint, starlike object [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] in the visible sky. Yet, in June of 1991 a gamma-ray telescope onboard NASA's orbiting Compton Gamma Ray Observatory [
http://cossc.gsfc.n…] unexpectedly discovered [
http://cossc.gsfc.n…] that it was one of the brightest objects in the gamma-ray sky. Shortly after this image was recorded the quasar faded from view at gamma-ray energies. Astronomers are still trying to understand what causes these enigmatic objects to flare so violently. Another quasar, 3C273, is faintly visible above and to the right of center.
Explanation
Gamma rays are more than 10,000 times more energetic than visible light. If you could "see" gamma rays [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…], the night sky would seem very different indeed. The bright object in the center of the false color gamma-ray image above is quasar [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] 3C279, a nondescript, faint, starlike object [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] in the visible sky. Yet, in June of 1991 a gamma-ray telescope onboard NASA's orbiting Compton Gamma Ray Observatory [
http://cossc.gsfc.n…] unexpectedly discovered [
http://cossc.gsfc.n…] that it was one of the brightest objects in the gamma-ray sky. Shortly after this image was recorded the quasar faded from view at gamma-ray energies. Astronomers are still trying to understand what causes these enigmatic objects to flare so violently. Another quasar, 3C273, is faintly visible above and to the right of center.
Explanation
