High Energy Stereoscopic System (HESS) Observatory

About High Energy Stereoscopic System (HESS) observatory:

• It is an array of Cherenkov Telescopes located in the Khomas Highlands in Namibia.
• H.E.S.S. started operations in 2003 and has been operated very successfully since then.
• It observes gamma rays, the most energetic form of light, in the very high energy range (>100 GeV), which are produced by some of the most violent processes in the universe.
• Being in the southern hemisphere, H.E.S.S. is very well located for observations of gamma-ray sources within our galaxy, the Milky Way.
• Since gamma rays cannot penetrate the Earth's atmosphere, H.E.S.S. detects them indirectly via their interactions with the air molecules.
• Besides sources from our Milky Way sources, it has a rich and wide physics program, covering also outbursts in very distant galaxies and fundamental physics questions related to dark matter and Lorentz invariance.
• The H.E.S.S. observatory is operated by a collaboration of more than 260 scientists from about 40 scientific institutions and 13 different countries.

Q1: What are gamma rays?

Gamma rays have the smallest wavelengths and the most energy of any wave in the electromagnetic spectrum. They are produced by the hottest and most energetic objects in the universe, such as neutron stars and pulsars, supernova explosions, and regions around black holes. On Earth, gamma waves are generated by nuclear explosions, lightning, and the less dramatic activity of radioactive decay.

News: What do we know about the highest energy cosmic rays discovered recently?