Beacons in the sky: The gamma-ray sky as seen by Fermi. The inserts show radio images of the jets of selected active galactic nuclei observed by the VLBA.
Credit: Matthias Kadler and NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Team and NRAO/AUI/MOJAVE team
He said previous research had hinted at this, but with data from the new Fermi telescope they were able to prove it.
The experts said that the new Fermi telescope has produced as much data in its first three months of operation than its predecessor, the Energetic Gamma Ray Experiment Telescope (EGRET), produced over the course of its entire nine-year lifespan.
"[Fermi] is basically doing for gamma-ray astronomy what Galileo's telescope did for optical astronomy," said Lister, "by observing sources much fainter than EGRET could, locating them on the sky with much better accuracy, and giving us a continuous view of the whole sky."
"Into the hearts of energetic monsters"
Ilana Feain, an astrophysicist with the CSIRO's Australia Telescope National Facility in Epping, NSW, said that the studies were important as they will allow us for the first time to probe the areas around black holes and understand more about high-energy physics.
"They're going into the hearts of some of the most energetic monsters in the universe," she said. "But really, what they've done is just the tip of the iceberg – we're all excited to see the full one-year data from Fermi."
Feain, who was not involved with the new studies, said the closest jet to Earth is from Centaurus A, which is only just visible to the naked eye. "But you can definitely see it with an amateur telescope," she said.
