Penn State University researchers not only look at what is visible to the eye, but also detect and analyze astronomical phenomena at higher energies, like X-rays and gamma-rays. X-rays and gamma-rays have higher energies than both ultraviolet and visible light and typically result from very energetic processes such as supernova explosions, jets from neutron stars and black holes, and hot gas falling into black holes. The Chandra, XMM-Newton, RXTE, Integral, and Swift observatories are used to study these objects. Chandra was built to look with very high resolution at very hot, X-ray emitting objects in the Universe. Penn State astronomers use it to study the area very close to black holes in order to discover what happens to matter that falls into them as well as how black holes grow and evolve with time, to determine the characteristics of hot young stars and protostars in the Milky Way galaxy, and to study the production of new elements in supernova remnants. Swift looks at gamma-ray bursts. Because gamma-ray burst happen so fast (lasting only a few seconds), the afterglows of these bursts are studied to determine the distance to them and to investigate their host galaxies. Some of the bursts observed may represent the most distant light-emitting objects ever recorded.

Current Research Projects

• Active Galactic Nuclei
  
• Gamma-Ray Bursts
  
• Supernova Remnants
  
• Chandra Deep Field-North
  
• Extended Chandra Deep Field-South
  
• Chandra Orion Ultra-Deep Project

Find Out More

• Penn State University's Swift Site

• NASA's Swift Site
• ACIS (Chandra)
• NASA's Chandra Site
• Chandra X-ray Observatory Center