Astrophysics Branch
Marshall Space Flight Center's Astrophysics Branch uses space and ground-based observatories to peer back to the earliest epochs of the universe, unravel its mysteries, and study the most violent explosions in our galaxy and beyond. Our goal is to help discover how the universe works, explore how it began and evolved, and search for life on planets around other stars.
Nicholas Thomas, Wayne Baumgartner, Adam Kobelski (ST13), Stephen Cheney (ES-23), and C. Grant Davis (St12/UAH) hosted and participated in the successful calibration of the SmallSat Solar Activity X-ray Imager (SSAXI) at the Marshall 100-Meter X-ray Beamline/Stray Light Test Facility. SSAXI …
The Relativistic Astrophysics and the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor Teams gave ten presentations at the 20th High Energy Astrophysics Division (HEAD) meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) in Waikiloa, HI, 3/26-30/23. Stephen Lesage (UAH graduate student) kicked off the …
Relativistic Astrophysics and Fermi GBM Team Presentations at the 20th AAS HEAD Meeting Read More »
On 3/24/23, American Astronomical Society (AAS) NOVA posted “Investigating Polarized Magnetar Flares” (https://aasnova.org/2023/03/24/investigating-polarized-magnetar-flares/), highlighting IXPE observations of the magnetar (highly magnetized neutron star) J170849.0-40091, showing energy dependent x-ray polarization, increasing from 20% (2 keV) to 80% (8 keV). In other …
News and Updates from the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) Read More »
Daniel Kocevski (ST12) has worked with an international team of astronomers to generate a new animation showing the gamma-ray sky’s frenzied activity during a year of observations by NASA’s Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) from February 2022 to February 2023. …
Fermi Captures Dynamic Gamma-ray Sky in New Animation Read More »
NASA Chandra contractor, the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (along with System Sounds and Chandra Labs) produced and released 16 sonification’s on vinyl album, CD, and streaming download on 3/10/23 titled “Universal Harmonies”. This collection, generated from data taken by the Chandra …
NASA’s Chandra Sonifications Turned into an Album Titled “Universal Harmonies” Read More »