Gamma Ray All Sky Map 伽玛射线全星空图 What if you could "see" gamma rays? This computer processed image represents a map of the entire sky at photon energies above 100 million electron Volts. These gamma-ray photons are more than 40 million times more energetic than visible light photons and are blocked from the Earth's surface by the atmosphere. In the early 1990s NASA's Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, in orbit around the Earth, scanned the entire sky to produce this picture. A diffused gamma-ray glow from the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy is clearly seen across the middle. The nature and even distance to some of the fainter sources remain unknown. 如何伽玛射线可见,会是怎样呢?这张电脑合成的照片呈现的是10亿多伏光子能量下的天空。这些伽玛射线的光子能量相当于可见光光子能量的4亿多倍,受地球大气层阻隔,伽玛射线无法到达地表。20世纪90年代初,美国航空航天局康普顿伽玛射线天文台在地球轨道扫描了整个天空后,制作了这幅图片。从银河系平面中间分散开来的伽玛射线清晰可见。一些射线源较弱,它的性质和距离都仍然未知。 |