The Compton Observatory Turns Five
Explanation:
Earlier this April, NASA's
Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, completed its
fifth successful year in orbit, exploring the
gamma ray sky. Pictured is astronaut
Jay Apt
perched in the shuttle payload bay below the massive observatory.
Compton is the largest
civilian instrument ever flown - the whole observatory is roughly the size
of a school bus. Apt and colleague
Jerry Ross rescued the spacecraft
from an unexpected
problem by successfully freeing the stuck high gain antenna in an unplanned
space walk. The second of
NASA's planned Great Observatories for Space
Astrophysics, the first being the
Hubble Space Telescope,
the
Compton
Gamma Ray Observatory
has exceeded expectations of
scientific
discovery. Compton
continues to search the depths of the universe for such high energy
phenomena as
gamma-ray bursts,
blazars, and
pulsars. Compton is still
monitoring a
new source
it discovered just last December - the
spectacular
"bursting pulsar" near the center of
our Galaxy.
Information:
The
Scale of the Universe Debate in April 1996
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
