Posted on 02/20/2010 3:28:40 PM PST by NormsRevenge
A NASA space telescope hunting for the most powerful explosions in the universe is turning its eye on Earth to hunt for tiny flashes of radiation to determine if they pose a rare, but deadly, threat to high-flying commercial airliners.
NASA's Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope has joined the search for mysterious gamma-ray flashes above thunderstorms which are ultra-brief, but could be a concern for air travelers, researchers said.
Just one millisecond blast of the so-called terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs) could expose passengers and crew aboard a nearby jet airliner to the same level of radiation as 400 chest X-rays, according to a recent study.
Fermi, which NASA originally launched to seek out gamma-ray bursts — immensely powerful explosions in deep space, usually from a dying star — joined in the hunt several months ago to possibly uncover more about when and how TGFs occur around thunderstorms and lightning.
To do that, scientists are using one of the telescope's monitoring sensors.
"Fermi-GBM [Gamma-Ray Burst Monitor] has the broadest energy coverage and highest sensitivity of any instruments that have observed, or will observe TGFs," said Jerry Fishman, an astrophysicist at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
Scientists first discovered the existence of TGFs by accident, when the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory detected a flash in 1991. But they still don't know if it is lightning that triggers the phenomenon or whether TGFs provide the quick burst of electrons that may spark a lightning strike.
"The current hypothesis of the origin of TGFs is that they come from an avalanche of relativistic [high-energy] electrons in the intense electric fields within or above thunderstorms," Fishman told SPACE.com. The theory fits both observations and computer simulations so far.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
maybe that's behind some nutso episodes on airliners?
hmmm..
wasnt that what “the hulk” was all about? gamma rays?
Yup, stress made the green in him come out..
They must be looking for Al Gore.
mysterious gamma-ray flashes above thunderstormsThanks NormsRevenge.
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ELECTRIC UNIVERSE.
That or a case of jihad.
Thanks!
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