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NASA Scientist to Discuss ‘NASA’s Fermi Opening a Window on the Extreme Universe’ at Library of Congress Lecture

The headshot image of Rob Garner

Rob Garner

News Chief

Apr 14, 2017
RELEASE17-13 (Goddard)
Dr. Julie McEnery
Dr. Julie McEnery Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Bill Hrybyk

The public is invited to a free talk called “The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope: Opening a Window on the Extreme Universe” with NASA’s Dr. Julie McEnery in the Pickford Theater, third floor, Madison Building, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., on April 18 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. EDT.

Julie McEnery is the Fermi project scientist and an astrophysicist in the Astroparticle Physics Laboratory, Astrophysics Science Division of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Since 2009, she has also been an adjunct professor of physics at the University of Maryland’s College Park campus.

The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, launched in June 2008, provides a dramatic new view of the celestial sky. Fermi has changed our picture of the extreme universe, revealing gigantic lobes of gamma rays in our own galaxy, uncovering scores of rapidly spinning super-dense stars shining only in gamma rays, observing flashes of gamma rays heralding the birth of black holes at the edge of our observable universe, and detecting antimatter from thunderstorms on Earth. Join us for a tour of the energetic universe!

Gamma rays are the highest-energy form of light, and the gamma-ray sky is spectacularly different from the one we perceive with our own eyes. Fermi enables scientists to answer persistent questions across a broad range of topics, including supermassive black-hole systems, pulsars, the origin of cosmic rays, and searches for signals of new physics.

The Library of Congress maintains one of the largest and most diverse collections of scientific and technical information in the world. The Science, Technology and Business Division provides reference and bibliographic services and develops the general collections of the library in all areas of science, technology, business and economics.
The Library of Congress is the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution and the largest library in the world and holds nearly 151.8 million items in various languages, disciplines and formats. The library serves Congress and the nation both on-site in its reading rooms on Capitol Hill and through its award-winning website.
 

A red line on a blue background shows how the entire sky appears at energies between 50 billion and 2 trillion electron volts
This image, constructed from more than six years of observations by NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, is the first to show how the entire sky appears at energies between 50 billion (GeV) and 2 trillion electron volts (TeV). For comparison, the energy of visible light falls between about 2 and 3 electron volts. A diffuse glow fills the sky and is brightest in the middle of the map, along the central plane of our galaxy. The famous Fermi Bubbles, first detected in 2010, appear as red extensions north and south of the galactic center and are much more pronounced at these energies. Discrete gamma-ray sources include pulsar wind nebulae and supernova remnants within our galaxy, as well as distant galaxies called blazars powered by supermassive black holes. Labels show the highest-energy sources, all located within our galaxy and emitting gamma rays exceeding 1 TeV. Credits: NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration

For inquiries about this or upcoming talks at the Library of Congress, the public can contact the LOC Science, Technology and Business Division at 202-707-5664. ADA accommodations may be made in advance at 202-707-6382 (voice/tty) or ada@loc.gov.

The lecture will be later broadcast on the library’s webcast page and YouTube channel “Topics in Science” playlist.

For more information contact Stephanie Marcus at 202-707-1212 or smar@loc.gov or visit: http://blogs.loc.gov/inside_adams/

For directions, visit: http://www.loc.gov/visit/maps-and-floor-plans/

For information about Fermi, visit: www.nasa.gov/fermi

Rob Gutro / Lora Bleacher
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-286-0697 / 2009
Robert.j.gutro@nasa.gov / Lora.v.bleacher@nasa.gov