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NASA's Fermi Telescope Makes a Discovery
In November 2010, NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope uncovered what may be a huge remnant from a black hole explosion in the heart of our Milky Way Galaxy. The structure spans about 50,000 light-years.
What Fermi saw were two bubbles extending to the north and to the south of the galactic center for about 25,000 light-years in both directions, and they were emitting gamma rays. Gamma rays are a very high-energy form of electromagnetic radiation.
So far, scientists are supposing that this strange bubble formation originated up to millions of years ago from a jet of particles streaming out of a supermassive black hole.
According to a NASA news release, "The structure's shape and emissions suggest it was formed as a result of a large and relatively rapid energy release--the source of which remains a mystery."
Now called the "Fermi bubbles," it has also been hypothesized that the structure was caused by gas outflow during a recent intense influx of star formation.
The data was collected from the telescope's Large Area Telescope, or LAT, which is the highest-resolution gamma ray detector launched into space, according to NASA. Because of the telescope's sensitivity to gamma rays, scientists have finally been able to peer through the "fog" of fast-moving radiation that previously prevented them from seeing these bubbles.
Since its launch in June of 2008, the Fermi telescope has been performing gamma ray observations from at an altitude of about 340 miles in low-earth orbit. By comparison, the International Space Station orbits, on average, 200 miles above the earth.
Fermi has proven to provide a unique wealth of data numerous times. For instance, the telescope's first great discovery came in October of 2008, when it unveiled a pulsar that emits radiation only in the form of gamma rays--the first such object to be revealed.
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