Learning about the galaxy’s past is intrinsically linked to understanding more about our cosmic home. Our solar system lies within only one of the spiral arms of the Milky Way.
Called the Compton Spectrometer and Imager, or COSI, the Gamma-ray Telescope will observe the formation of chemical elements in the Milky Way and study the birth and death of stars. To find these chemical elements, COSI will look at gamma rays that were produced by the explosions of massive stars in our galaxy. This will help map the chemical elements released by the explosions and where they formed in the Milky Way.
“For more than 60 years, NASA has provided opportunities for inventive, small-scale missions to fill knowledge gaps where we still seek answers,” Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, said in a statement. Huh.” “COSI will answer questions about the origin of chemical elements in our own Milky Way galaxy, which are key elements for Earth’s formation.”
The telescope will also detect the faint origin of our galaxy’s positrons, subatomic particles that have a positive charge and a mass equal to that of an electron, which has a negative charge. The positrons found in space on a large scale are also known as antielectrons.
John Tomasik will be the mission’s principal investigator at the University of California, Berkeley.
new wave of space exploration
But new telescopes are preparing to launch and explore the universe in new ways.
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