CGRO
CGRO (Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory), one of NASA's Great Observatories, studied the gamma-ray sky using four telescopes that detected different energies. The mission found a class of active galaxies called blazars, mapped the Milky Way’s distribution of a radioactive isotope of aluminum, and hinted at gamma-ray bursts’ cosmological origins, among other discoveries.
Type
Space observatory
Launch
April 5, 1991
Wavelength
Gamma rays
Decommissioned
June 4, 2000
NASA's Compton Gamma Ray Observatory just before release from the space shuttle Atlantis on April 7, 1991, during the STS-37 mission. Compton's successful career ended in June 2000 when the observatory reentered Earth's atmosphere.
Credit: NASA/MSFC
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