Astrophysics Branch
Marshall Space Flight Center's Astrophysics Branch uses space and ground-based observatories to peer back to the earliest epochs of the universe, unravel its mysteries, and study the most violent explosions in our galaxy and beyond. Our goal is to help discover how the universe works, explore how it began and evolved, and search for life on planets around other stars.

NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Engineering Technicians John Hood, Amy Meekham, and Mark Sloan discuss details of their work on the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer. A joint effort between NASA and the Italian Space Agency, the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer …
On 9/6/23, Marshall’s Chandra X-ray Observatory team supported the “Education Day” game for the Rocket City Trash Pandas, Huntsville’s minor league baseball team. The team shared information about Chandra and high energy astrophysics and handed out Chandra bookmarks and activity …
Marshall Chandra Team Supports Trash Panda’s “Education Day” Game Read More »
Glowbug has reported detections of four gamma-ray bursts via the General Coordinates Network. Glowbug is a NASA-funded gamma-ray telescope that is operating on the International Space Station. Glowbug is operated by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory with ground data analysis …
First Gamma-ray Burst Detections with Glowbug Reported to the Community Read More »
On 10/9/22, the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) detected the brightest gamma-ray burst ever seen. National Geographic interviewed GBM graduate student Stephen Lesage (UAH), who was on GBM burst advocate duty when the burst occurred, GBM team member Eric Burns …
National Geographic Article About the Brightest Gamma-ray Burst of all Time Read More »
Daniel Kocevski (ST12), Stephen Lesage (UAH), and Sarah Dalessi (UAH) presented invited talks at a conference held in Warrington, VA on behalf of Marshall Space Flight Center’s (MSFC’s) Relativistic Astrophysics Team. Kocevski presented on the status of the StarBurst and …