{"525091":{"#nid":"525091","#data":{"type":"news","title":"A HAWC\u2019s-Eye View of the Sky","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAnother view of the universe is becoming available as the facility known as HAWC gathers data. Analysis of the data by scientists, including Georgia Tech physicist Ignacio Taboada, is revealing astronomical objects never known before.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHAWC is the High-Altitude Water Cherenkov Observatory, nestled at 14,000 feet above sea level between two mountains \u2013 Pico de Orizaba and Sierra Negra \u2013 in Mexico. It was constructed to locate sources of gamma rays by detecting the secondary particles resulting from the interaction of gamma rays in Earth\u2019s upper atmosphere. Gamma rays are made in extreme environments in the universe, such as supernova explosions, pulsars, and supermassive black holes\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHAWC uses light sensors inside 50,000-gallon water tanks to detect the secondary particles of gamma rays. As these particles travel through the water tanks, they produce faint blue light, known as Cherenkov radiation. A total of 300 tanks covers an area of about four football fields.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMore than 120 scientists in Europe, Mexico, and the U.S. are involved in the HAWC collaboration.\u0026nbsp; Construction of the gamma ray observatory was completed in March 2015, and results of the first year of operation are now available. At the meeting of the American Physical Society on April 16-19, in Salt Lake City, Utah, scientists will report the first discoveries made possible by HAWC.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAmong several findings to be reported at the APS meeting is the discovery of several new sources of gamma rays several thousands of light years away in our very own galaxy, the Milky Way. Discovering many new distant objects in so short a time is evidence of HAWC\u2019s sensitivity, Taboada says. It is about 15 times as sensitive as the best previous instruments to survey the sky for gamma rays.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA unique capability of HAWC is that is operates day and night and observes a much larger fraction of the sky than is possible with other instruments, making HAWC an ideal survey detector, Taboada says. \u201cHAWC will help us draw a fuller picture of the universe than we\u2019ve known before.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EConstruction of HAWC was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.S. Department of Energy and by Mexico\u2019s Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia. Taboada\u2019s HAWC research in Georgia Tech is funded by NSF and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Gamma ray observatory reveals new astronomical objects never known before."}],"field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Results of the first year of operation of HAWC, the gamma ray observatory located in Mexico, are now available."}],"uid":"30678","created_gmt":"2016-04-15 09:21:42","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:21:21","author":"A. Maureen Rouhi","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2016-04-15T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2016-04-15T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"525051":{"id":"525051","type":"image","title":"HAWC Gamma Ray Observatory","body":null,"created":"1460995200","gmt_created":"2016-04-18 16:00:00","changed":"1475895296","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:54:56","alt":"HAWC Gamma Ray Observatory","file":{"fid":"205476","name":"hawcobservatory.capture.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/hawcobservatory.capture_0.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/hawcobservatory.capture_0.png","mime":"image\/png","size":455398,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/hawcobservatory.capture_0.png?itok=FnWpEfXA"}},"525071":{"id":"525071","type":"image","title":"The View from HAWC","body":null,"created":"1460995200","gmt_created":"2016-04-18 16:00:00","changed":"1475895296","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:54:56","alt":"The View from HAWC","file":{"fid":"205477","name":"hawc-340day-constellations-english.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/hawc-340day-constellations-english_0.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/hawc-340day-constellations-english_0.png","mime":"image\/png","size":1876779,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/hawc-340day-constellations-english_0.png?itok=IcfWcGXr"}},"525081":{"id":"525081","type":"image","title":"Ignacio Taboada","body":null,"created":"1460995200","gmt_created":"2016-04-18 16:00:00","changed":"1475895296","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:54:56","alt":"Ignacio Taboada","file":{"fid":"205478","name":"ignacio_taboada3.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/ignacio_taboada3_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/ignacio_taboada3_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":754527,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/ignacio_taboada3_0.jpg?itok=pe0pTJc6"}}},"media_ids":["525051","525071","525081"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"}],"categories":[{"id":"150","name":"Physics and Physical Sciences"}],"keywords":[{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"122621","name":"gamma rays"},{"id":"122611","name":"HAWC"},{"id":"30781","name":"Ignacio Taboada"},{"id":"166937","name":"School of Physics"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA. Maureen Rouhi\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDirector of Communications\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECollege of Sciences\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["maureen.rouhi@cos.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}