VERITAS

[http://veritas.sao.arizona.edu VERITAS] (Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System) is a new major ground-based gamma-ray observatory with an array of four 12m optical reflectors for gamma-ray astronomy in the GeV - TeV energy range . The telescope design is based on the design of the existing [http://veritas.sao.arizona.edu/component/option,com_gallery2/Itemid,34/?g2_itemId=198 10m gamma-ray telescope] of the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory. It consists of an array of imaging telescopes deployed such that they permit the maximum versatility and give the highest sensitivity in the 50 GeV - 50 TeV band (with maximum sensitivity from 100 GeV to 10 TeV). This VHE observatory will effectively complement GLAST.

VERITAS Information

*Design is based on the [http://veritas.sao.arizona.edu/component/option,com_gallery2/Itemid,34/?g2_itemId=198 Whipple Telescope]
*39 feet aperture
*350 mirrors on each dish
*499 pixel camera on each telescope
*Each telescope has 3.5 deg field of view
*50 GeV to 50 TeV Energy Range

VERITAS Science

* Black Holes at the Centres of Active Galaxies
* Pulsars
* Gamma-Ray Bursts
* Supernova Remnants
* Globular clusters
* Galaxies (Including our own Milky Way Galaxy.

The VERITAS Collaboration

The VERITAS Collaboration is composed of several member institutions and other collaborating members.

Member Institutions

* [http://veritas.sao.arizona.edu Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory]
* [http://www.physics.purdue.edu/astro/veritas/veritas.html Purdue University]
* [http://cherenkov.physics.iastate.edu/ Iowa State University]
* [http://jelley.wustl.edu Washington University in St. Louis]
* [http://veritas.uchicago.edu/ University of Chicago]
* [http://www.physics.utah.edu/ University of Utah]
* [http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~veritas/ University of California, Los Angeles]
* [http://www.physics.mcgill.ca/~veritas/ McGill University, Montreal]
* [http://ferdia.ucd.ie/ University College Dublin]
* [http://www.ast.leeds.ac.uk/ University of Leeds]

Collaborators

* [http://veritas.sao.arizona.edu Adler Planetarium]
* [http://www.hep.anl.gov Argonne National Laboratory]
* [http://veritas.sao.arizona.edu Barnard College]
* [http://veritas.sao.arizona.edu dePauw University]
* [http://veritas.sao.arizona.edu Grinnell College]
* [http://veritas.sao.arizona.edu University of California, Santa Cruz]
* [http://veritas.sao.arizona.edu University of Iowa]
* [http://veritas.sao.arizona.edu University of Massachusetts]
* [http://veritas.sao.arizona.edu Cork Institute of Technology]
* [http://veritas.sao.arizona.edu Galway Mayo Institute of Technology]
* [http://www.nuigalway.ie/physics National University of Ireland Galway]
* [http://veritas.sao.arizona.edu Associate Members]

Funding

VERITAS is supported by the United States Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, the Smithsonian Institution, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council in Canada, Science Foundation Ireland and the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council in the U.K.

External links

* [http://veritas.sao.arizona.edu Official VERITAS Site]
* [http://xxx.arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0604119 Status of the First Telescope]