Gamma-ray astronomy-Future prospects

Details Gamma-ray astronomy-Future prospects Gamma-ray astronomy-Future prospects

May 1995

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1995adspr..15..161s&link_type=abstract

Advances in Space Research (ISSN 0273-1177), vol. 15, no. 5, p. (5)161-(5)170

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

1

Angular Resolution, Energy Distribution, Gamma Ray Astronomy, Predictions, Radiation Detectors, Sensitivity, Gamma Ray Observatory, Gamma Ray Telescopes, Satellite-Borne Instruments, Spaceborne Astronomy, Spacecraft Instruments

Scientific paper

With the advent of Sigma/Granat and of the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (CGRO), the gamma-ray band has at last been opened up for astronomy. It is starting to be possible to realize some of the potential that observations in this wave band have for contributing to our understanding of high energy astrophysics. What, though, of prospects beyond the current generation of gamma-ray instruments? It is ironical that in the part of the spectrum where the diffraction limit is in the micro-arcsecond range, angular resolutions available are still comparable with the angular diameter of the moon. Similarly, none of the current generation of space instruments has energy resolution better than about E/Delta E approximately 10. Yet this is a regime where resolutions of approximately 1000 are easily achieved in the laboratory and where the theoretical limits are many orders of magnitude better than this. A major problem is sensitivity. The large detector masses necessary to stop high energy gamma-rays attract both high backgrounds from particle interactions and worried looks from spacecraft engineers. Ingenuity, large lift-off masses and long observations are all needed. The prospects for the International Gamma Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (INTEGRAL) and beyond are discussed in the context of developments over the last 20 years and the present status.

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