NASA names constellations after Godzilla, Hulk and more

Credit: DaytonDailyNews

Move over, Orion and Ursa Major. Make room for Godzilla and the Hulk.

Scientists with NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope pulled together a series of modern constellations based on sources in the gamma-ray sky, which is invisible to humans. While fun, NASA notes that the new constellations are unofficial.              

The new constellations feature familiar names including Albert Einstein, the Hulk, Godzilla and the TARDIS from "Doctor Who."

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The constellations were created to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Fermi telescope.

"Developing these unofficial constellations was a fun way to highlight a decade of Fermi's accomplishments," said Julie McEnery, Fermi project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, in a statement.

Fermi has been seeking out sources of gamma rays, the highest-energy light in the universe. Sources include pulsars, debris from supernova explosions and supermassive black holes.

The telescope has mapped out 3,000 different sources of gamma rays, 10 times more than scientists knew existed before Fermi launched in 2008.

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"For the first time ever, the number of known gamma-ray sources was comparable to the number of bright stars, so we thought a new set of constellations was a great way to illustrate the point," said Elizabeth Ferrara, who works at Goddard Space Flight Center and managed the constellation project.

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