Understanding the most powerful energy sources in the Universe.
Our Universe is the stage for events of inconceivable power. Stars explode, outshining 100 billion suns. Matter is obliterated in the dark heart of a black hole, or accelerated to almost the speed of light by jets emanating from the cores of galaxies. Intense flashes of invisible light come from the edge of the cosmos.
Gamma-ray astronomy studies the most energetic objects and phenomena in the Universe. Gamma radiation, invisible to the human eye, is generated under the most extreme conditions. The mission of NASA's Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) is to study these powerful objects and violent events in order to understand Nature at its ultimate limits. Exploring the limits often reveals new things and unanticipated phenomena, particularly in fundamental physics. This knowledge may eventually find application in current technologies, or create technologies that are entirely new.
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