Portal:Radiation astronomy/Lesson/9

First gamma-ray source in Triangulum Australe
The first gamma-ray source in Triangulum Australe is unknown.

The field of gamma-ray astronomy is the result of observations and theories about gamma-ray sources detected in the sky above.

The first astronomical gamma-ray source discovered may have been the Sun.

But, gamma-rays from the Sun do not penetrate far enough into the Earth's atmosphere to be detected on the ground.

The early use of sounding rockets and balloons to carry detectors high enough may have detected gamma-rays from the Sun as early as the 1940s.

This is a lesson in map reading, coordinate matching, and searching. It is also a project in the history of gamma-ray astronomy looking for the first astronomical gamma-ray source discovered in the constellation of Triangulum Australe.

Nearly all the background you need to participate and learn by doing you've probably already been introduced to at a secondary level and perhaps even a primary education level.

Some of the material and information is at the college or university level, and as you progress in finding gamma-ray sources, you'll run into concepts and experimental tests that are an actual search.