VERITAS Homepage

Job Opportunity at SAO

Astronomer/Astrophysicist/Physicist Federal position available

The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) is seeking an outstanding astronomer/astrophysicist/physicist to join SAO to lead SAO's participation in VERITAS, which is located at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory, Amado, Arizona. The candidate will also conduct his/her own active research program in galactic or extragalactic astronomy using these and other SAO/CfA facilities and/or other astronomical facilities. The candidate is expected to be experienced at original thinking and independent research, skillful at communicating ideas, able to supervise students and/or postdoctoral fellows and other scientists, and able to participate fully in the dynamic intellectual life of SAO. For more information, click here.

Multiwavelength Information

Whipple 10m: No observing during July/August.

2005-2006 Campaign Completed: The Whipple 10m telescope was used to monitor a short list of AGN including 1ES2344, 1ES1959, Markarian 421, H1426 and Markarian 501 from Sep. 2005 - Jun. 2006. Observations have ceased for the summer months and are expected to resume in September 2006. Click here for the latest information (Last update: 060710).

Information for Mountain Users

VERITAS Operating Hours: Click here

VERITAS Telescope 1 near the administrative complex of FLWO.

Click here for more photos of Telescope 1.

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 new telescope design will be based on the design of the existing 10m gamma-ray telescope of the Whipple Observatory. It will consist of an array of imaging telescopes which will be deployed such that they will permit the maximum versatility and will give the highest sensitivity in the 50 GeV - 50 TeV band (with maximum sensitivity from 100 GeV to 10 TeV). In this band critical measurements of SNRs and AGNs will be made. This VHE observatory will effectively complement GLAST well into the next millennium.

Announcements

1 February 2005: First Light on VERITAS Telescope

The recently completed VERITAS Telescope-1 saw first light on February 1, 2005 with the detection of a signal from the Crab Nebula. The telescope, with its full complement of 350 mirror facets and a 499 pixel camera, has met all technical specifications. A two-dimensional image of the Crab is shown below along with some typical images and animations of gamma-ray and cosmic-ray air showers; the time slices are 2 ns apart. Telescope-1 will be operated at its temporary site at the Whipple Observatory Basecamp until February, 2006 when it will be moved to Horseshoe Canyon on Kitt Peak to join the other three VERITAS telescopes.

Click on the image below to see a larger version.


Two-dimensional image of the Crab	Gamma-ray image	Muon image

Click on the image below to see animations of the showers.


Cosmic ray	Gamma-ray	Muon

Previous Announcements

For the most recent VERITAS article, "VERITAS: the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (T. C. Weekes et al. 2002)" click here.

Abstract

The Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) represents an important step forward in the study of extreme astrophysical processes in the universe. It combines the power of the atmospheric Cherenkov imaging technique using a large optical reflector with the power of stereoscopic observatories using arrays of separated telescopes looking at the same shower. The four identical telescopes in VERITAS, each of aperture 12 m, will be deployed in a filled hexagonal pattern of side 80 m; each telescope will have a camera consisting of 499 pixels with a field of view of 3.5 deg VERITAS will substantially increase the catalog of very high energy (E > 100GeV) gamma-ray sources and greatly improve measurements of established sources.

The VERITAS prototype Telescope

The VERITAS collaboration, which pioneered the Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Technique for the detection of very high energy (VHE) gamma rays, is based at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory in Southern Arizona, in the United States. It comprises the following Institutions:

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, U. S. A.

Purdue University, U. S. A.

Iowa State University, U. S. A.

Washington University at St. Louis, U. S. A.

University of Chicago, U. S. A.

University of Utah, U. S. A.

University of California, Los Angeles, U. S. A.

McGill University, Montreal, Canada

National University of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland

University of Leeds, England