Countdown to the first GLAST launch opportunity: 2008-06-03 11:45:00 GMT-04:00

Astrophysics Science Division

The Astrophysics Science Division supports the GSFC astrophysics projects by providing scientific leadership and supports a research program to achieve NASA's strategic science goals. The key questions addressed by the Divisions research programs include:

How do galaxies, stars, and planetary systems form and evolve?
What is the diversity of worlds beyond our solar system?
Which planets might harbor life?
What powered the big bang?
What is Dark Energy?
What happens to space, time and matter at the edge of a black hole?
What are the cycles of matter & energy in the evolving universe?

Seminars & Meetings

Master Calendar: Seminars & Colloquia

Fri May 16 - B2/Rm8 @ 3:30pm
Daniel Proga (UNLV)
Dynamics of Accretion Flows Irradiated by a Quasar

Tue May 20 - B21/Rm183 @ 3:30pm
Ioannis Contopoulos (Academy of Athens)
The 3D structure of the pulsar magnetosphere: first results

ASD Colloquium

Boldt Lectureship Series

Seminars & Meetings page

News Feature

Artist's conception of the GLAST satellite in orbit

Image Credit: NASA and General Dynamics

GLAST set to launch the first week in June!
NASA's Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope, or GLAST, is receiving finishing touches at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The spacecraft is set for launch aboard a Delta II rocket no earlier than June 3. The launch window runs from 11:45 a.m. to 1:40 p.m. EDT. GLAST is getting a lot of attention from engineers and scientists, from sun shades to thermal blankets, to final inspection.

Division News

Apr 30 - Julie McEnery and Will Zhang are featured in separate articles in Volume 4, Issue 7 of the Goddard View.
Apr 29 - Neil Gehrels has been elected to membership in the American Academy of the Arts and Sciences.
Apr 16 - Will Zhang is featured in the Spring 2008 Goddard Tech Trends newsletter.
Apr 8 - John Baker and Joan Centrella have jointly won this year's Lindsay Award, Goddard's highest award for scientific achievement in space science.
News Archive...
Press Release Archive...

Links

Astronomy Picture of the Day

HEASARC Picture of the Week

Current Missions

Future Missions & Programs

Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST)
GLAST is a superior tool to study how black holes, notorious for pulling matter in, can accelerate jets of gas outward at fantastic speeds.
+ Read More

James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)
JWST is an infrared-optimized space telescope designed to study the earliest stars and galaxies.
+ Read More

Beyond Einstein Program
Beyond Einstein consists of several missions:

the x-ray imaging Constellation-X,

the gravitational-wave detector LISA, and

the 3 Einstein probes, one of which is the dark energy mission JDEM.

+ Read More