The Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope, or GLAST, is a space observatory used to perform gamma-ray astronomy observations from low Earth orbit. Its main instrument is the Large Area Telescope (LAT), with which astronomers mostly intend to perform an all-sky survey studying astrophysical and cosmological phenomena such as active galactic nuclei, pulsars, other high-energy sources and dark matter. Another instrument aboard GLAST, the GLAST Burst Monitor (GBM), will be used to study gamma ray bursts.
GLAST, which was launched aboard a Delta II 7920-H rocket at 16:05 GMT on 2008-06-11, is a joint venture of NASA, the United States Department of Energy, and government agencies in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Sweden. On February 8, 2008 NASA announced it was seeking suggestions for a new name for GLAST that, "Will capture the excitement of GLAST's mission and call attention to gamma-ray and high-energy astronomy."GLAST includes two scientific instruments, the Large Area Telescope (LAT) and the GLAST Burst Monitor (GBM). The LAT is an imaging gamma-ray detector (a pair-conversion instrument) which detects photons with energy from about 30 million to about 300 billion electron volts (30 MeV - 300 GeV), with a field of view of about 20% of the sky; it may be thought of as a sequel to the EGRET instrument on the Compton gamma ray observatory. The GBM consists of 14 scintillation detectors (twelve sodium iodide crystals for the 8keV to 1MeV range and two bismut germanate crystals with sensitivity from 150keV to 30MeV), and can detect gamma ray bursts in that energy range across the whole of the sky not occulted by the EartThe key scientific objectives of the GLAST mission are:
To understand the mechanisms of particle acceleration in active galactic nuclei (AGN), pulsars, and supernova remnants (SNR).
Resolve the gamma-ray sky: unidentified sources and diffuse emission.
Determine the high-energy behavior of gamma-ray bursts and transients.
Probe dark matter and early Universe.
Search for evaporating primordial micro black holes [MBH] from their presumed gamma burst signatures [Hawking Radiation component].
NASA designed the mission with a five-year lifetime, with a goal of ten years of operations.
GLAST, which was launched aboard a Delta II 7920-H rocket at 16:05 GMT on 2008-06-11, is a joint venture of NASA, the United States Department of Energy, and government agencies in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Sweden. On February 8, 2008 NASA announced it was seeking suggestions for a new name for GLAST that, "Will capture the excitement of GLAST's mission and call attention to gamma-ray and high-energy astronomy."GLAST includes two scientific instruments, the Large Area Telescope (LAT) and the GLAST Burst Monitor (GBM). The LAT is an imaging gamma-ray detector (a pair-conversion instrument) which detects photons with energy from about 30 million to about 300 billion electron volts (30 MeV - 300 GeV), with a field of view of about 20% of the sky; it may be thought of as a sequel to the EGRET instrument on the Compton gamma ray observatory. The GBM consists of 14 scintillation detectors (twelve sodium iodide crystals for the 8keV to 1MeV range and two bismut germanate crystals with sensitivity from 150keV to 30MeV), and can detect gamma ray bursts in that energy range across the whole of the sky not occulted by the EartThe key scientific objectives of the GLAST mission are:
To understand the mechanisms of particle acceleration in active galactic nuclei (AGN), pulsars, and supernova remnants (SNR).
Resolve the gamma-ray sky: unidentified sources and diffuse emission.
Determine the high-energy behavior of gamma-ray bursts and transients.
Probe dark matter and early Universe.
Search for evaporating primordial micro black holes [MBH] from their presumed gamma burst signatures [Hawking Radiation component].
NASA designed the mission with a five-year lifetime, with a goal of ten years of operations.
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