Gamma Ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) Balloon Flight Data Handling Overview

Gamma Ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) Balloon Flight Data Handling Overview
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 5
Release: 2002
Genre:
ISBN:

The GLAST Balloon Flight Engineering Model (BFEM) represents one of 16 towers that constitute the Large Area Telescope (LAT), a high-energy (>20 MeV) gamma-ray pair-production telescope being built by an international partnership of astrophysicists and particle physicists for a satellite launch in 2006. The prototype tower consists of a Pb/Si pair-conversion tracker (TKR), a CsI hodoscopic calorimeter (CAL), an anti-coincidence detector (ACD) and an autonomous data acquisition system (DAQ). The self-triggering capabilities and performance of the detector elements have been previously characterized using positron, photon and hadron beams. External target scintillators were placed above the instrument to act as sources of hadronic showers. This paper provides a comprehensive description of the BFEM data-reduction process, from receipt of the flight data from telemetry through event reconstruction and background rejection cuts. The goals of the ground analysis presented here are to verify the functioning of the instrument and to validate the reconstruction software and the background-rejection scheme.

GLAST

GLAST
Author: United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Publisher:
Total Pages: 36
Release: 2002*
Genre: Gamma ray astronomy
ISBN:

GLAST Large Area Telescope Multiwavelength Planning

GLAST Large Area Telescope Multiwavelength Planning
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 4
Release: 2007
Genre:
ISBN:

Gamma-ray astrophysics depends in many ways on multiwavelength studies. The Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) Large Area Telescope (LAT) Collaboration has started multiwavelength planning well before the scheduled 2007 launch of the observatory. Some of the high-priority multiwavelength needs include: (1) availability of contemporaneous radio and X-ray timing of pulsars; (2) expansion of blazar catalogs, including redshift measurements; (3) improved observations of molecular clouds, especially at high galactic latitudes; (4) simultaneous broad-band blazar monitoring; (5) characterization of gamma-ray transients, including gamma ray bursts; (6) radio, optical, X-ray and TeV counterpart searches for reliable and effective sources identification and characterization. Several of these activities are needed to be in place before launch.

Building ISOC Status Displays for the Large AreaTelescope Aboard the Gamma Ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) Observatory

Building ISOC Status Displays for the Large AreaTelescope Aboard the Gamma Ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) Observatory
Author: Christina Ketchum
Publisher:
Total Pages: 15
Release: 2006
Genre:
ISBN:

In September 2007 the Gamma Ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) is scheduled to launch aboard a Delta II rocket in order to put two high-energy gamma-ray detectors, the Large Area Telescope (LAT) and the GLAST Burst Monitor (GBM) into low earth orbit. The Instrument Science Operations Center (ISOC) at SLAC is responsible for the LAT operations for the duration of the mission, and will therefore build an operations center including a monitoring station at SLAC to inform operations staff and visitors of the status of the LAT instrument and GLAST. This monitoring station is to include sky maps showing the location of GLAST in its orbit as well as the LAT's projected field of view on the sky containing known gamma-ray sources. The display also requires a world map showing the locations of GLAST and three Tracking and Data Relay Satellites (TDRS) relative to the ground, their trail lines, and ''footprint'' circles indicating the range of communications for each satellite. The final display will also include a space view showing the orbiting and pointing information of GLAST and the TDRS satellites. In order to build the displays the astronomy programs Xephem, DS9, SatTrack, and STK were employed to model the position of GLAST and pointing information of the LAT instrument, and the programming utilities Python and Cron were used in Unix to obtain updated information from database and load them into the programs at regular intervals. Through these methods the indicated displays were created and combined to produce a monitoring display for the LAT and GLAST.

GLAST Large Area Telescope Multiwavelength Opportunities

GLAST Large Area Telescope Multiwavelength Opportunities
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 3
Release: 2007
Genre:
ISBN:

High-energy gamma-ray sources are inherently nonthermal, multiwavelength objects. With the launch of the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) scheduled for later this year, the GLAST Large Area Telescope (LAT) Collaboration invites cooperative efforts from observers at all wavelengths. Among the many topics where multiwavelength studies will maximize the scientific understanding, two stand out for particular emphasis: (1) Active Galactic Nuclei. The study of AGN gamma-ray jets through time variability and spectral modeling can help link the accretion processes close to the black hole with the large-scale interaction of the AGN with its environment; (2) Unidentified Gamma-ray Sources. New gamma-ray sources need first to be identified with known objects seen at other wavelengths using position, spectrum, or time variability, and then multiwavelength studies can be used to explore the astrophysical implications of high-energy radiation from these sources. Observers interested in any type of coordinated observations should contact the LAT Multiwavelength Coordinating Group.

Astronomy with Radioactivities

Astronomy with Radioactivities
Author: Roland Diehl
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 577
Release: 2010-10-02
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3642126979

This book introduces the reader to the field of nuclear astrophysics, i.e. the acquisition and reading of measurements on unstable isotopes in different parts of the universe. The authors explain the role of radioactivities in astrophysics, discuss specific sources of cosmic isotopes and in which special regions they can be observed. More specifically, the authors address stars of different types, stellar explosions which terminate stellar evolutions, and other explosions triggered by mass transfers and instabilities in binary stars. They also address nuclear reactions and transport processes in interstellar space, in the contexts of cosmic rays and of chemical evolution. A special chapter is dedicated to the solar system which even provides material samples. The book also contains a description of key tools which astrophysicists employ in those particular studies and a glossary of key terms in astronomy with radioactivities.