Sub-milliarcsecond resolution measurements of stars with Cherenkov telescopes
por
Dr.Tarek Hassan(CIEMAT)
→
Europe/Madrid
Online
Online
Descripción
Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) currently represent the most sensitive instruments to study the very-high-energy gamma-ray sky (from 50 GeV to ~ 10 TeV). Over the last few decades, the current generation of IACTs (MAGIC, HESS and VERITAS) have consolidated their relevance within the astroparticle physics field on topics such as fundamental physics, Dark Matter searches and high-energy astronomy. In order to detect the Cherenkov flashes of blue light produced within extended air showers, these telescopes need very large mirror surfaces and cameras operating at nanosecond timescales. Interestingly, these technical capabilities serendipitously make them suitable Stellar Intensity Interferometers (SII), allowing them to perform high-angular-resolution observations. CIEMAT has been deeply involved in the validation of this technique, and has just completed an upgrade of the MAGIC telescopes allowing them to routinely perform SII measurements. The state of the art of high-resolution optical astronomy will be presented, together with the firstobservations taken with the new MAGIC-SII setup.
