SPACE AND COSMIC RAY PHYSICS SEMINAR

University of Maryland
Atlantic Building, Room 2400 4:30 PM Monday, April 1, 2013
Coffee, Tea & Snacks 4:15-4:30 PM

Dr. Neil Gehrels
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Adventures in Time Domain Astronomy

The gamma-ray sky is more dynamic than in any other wavelength band. Gamma-ray bursts, supernovae, and black hole accretors all are characterized by bursts and flares. We are in a rich period of gamma-ray time domain astronomy with Swift, and Fermi operating. The hard X-ray through high energy gamma-ray skies are being monitored on hourly to daily time scales at sensitivities more than an order of magnitude better than ever before. Highlights will be presented of the exciting and often surprising results from these missions.