This simulated image models the intensities of gamma rays [
http://cossc.gsfc.n…] with over 40 million times the energy of visible light, and represents how the sky might appear to the proposed Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope [
http://glast.gsfc.n…] (GLAST) after its first year in orbit. Familiar steady stars are absent from the dramatic 80x80 degree field which looks directly away from the center of the Galaxy. Instead, the Geminga [
http://imagine.gsfc…] and Crab pulsars [
http://oposite.stsc…] - bizarre, spinning stellar corpses known to be neutron stars [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] - are the two brightest gamma-ray sources. These and other bright objects in the field, dense pulsars [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…], monstrous active galaxies [
http://imagine.gsfc…], and still unknown sources, have been detected by the Energetic Gamma-Ray Experiment Telescope [
http://cossc.gsfc.n…] (EGRET) on the orbiting Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory [
http://cossc.gsfc.n…]. However, most of the simulated point sources are new - extrapolating current ideas and anticipating discoveries resulting from GLAST's improved gamma-ray vision [
http://glast.gsfc.n…]. The central broad band of faint gamma-ray emission is due to high-energy cosmic rays [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] colliding with interstellar gas in the outer spiral arms of the Milky Way [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…], while below is a diffuse energetic glow from prominent molecular clouds [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] in Monoceros, Orion, Auriga, and Taurus. Intended to explore [
http://perry.sonoma…] the most extreme energy sources in the distant cosmos [
http://universe.gsf…] and planned for launch in 2005, the GLAST mission [
http://wwwmipd.gsfc…] is under development [
http://glast.gsfc.n…] by NASA and a collaboration of U. S. and international partners.
Explanation
This simulated image models the intensities of gamma rays [
http://cossc.gsfc.n…] with over 40 million times the energy of visible light, and represents how the sky might appear to the proposed Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope [
http://glast.gsfc.n…] (GLAST) after its first year in orbit. Familiar steady stars are absent from the dramatic 80x80 degree field which looks directly away from the center of the Galaxy. Instead, the Geminga [
http://imagine.gsfc…] and Crab pulsars [
http://oposite.stsc…] - bizarre, spinning stellar corpses known to be neutron stars [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] - are the two brightest gamma-ray sources. These and other bright objects in the field, dense pulsars [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…], monstrous active galaxies [
http://imagine.gsfc…], and still unknown sources, have been detected by the Energetic Gamma-Ray Experiment Telescope [
http://cossc.gsfc.n…] (EGRET) on the orbiting Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory [
http://cossc.gsfc.n…]. However, most of the simulated point sources are new - extrapolating current ideas and anticipating discoveries resulting from GLAST's improved gamma-ray vision [
http://glast.gsfc.n…]. The central broad band of faint gamma-ray emission is due to high-energy cosmic rays [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] colliding with interstellar gas in the outer spiral arms of the Milky Way [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…], while below is a diffuse energetic glow from prominent molecular clouds [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] in Monoceros, Orion, Auriga, and Taurus. Intended to explore [
http://perry.sonoma…] the most extreme energy sources in the distant cosmos [
http://universe.gsf…] and planned for launch in 2005, the GLAST mission [
http://wwwmipd.gsfc…] is under development [
http://glast.gsfc.n…] by NASA and a collaboration of U. S. and international partners.
Explanation
