How is GLAST going to do it?
The GLAST (Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope) Mission consists of two instruments:
the Large Area Telescope (LAT) and the
Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM). The LAT
is a next generation high-energy gamma-ray instrument designed to image celestial
gamma-ray sources in the energy band extending from 20 MeV
to more than 300 GeV. The
LAT follows in the footsteps
of the CGRO- EGRET
experiment, while the GBM
traces its origins to the CGRO-
BATSE.
The GLAST LAT has
a very wide field of view and greatly improved sensitivity compared to EGRET,
especially at higher gamma-ray energies. It will also provide very accurate
positions for the gamma-ray
sources that it detects. During the one year all-sky survey, GLAST is expected
to detect and provide accurate positions for thousands of new gamma-ray sources,
ranging from active galaxies to supernova
remnants and pulsars.
It will also have the sensitivity to determine whether or not the extragalactic
gamma-ray background is truly diffuse. Follow-up observations through the Guest
Investigator Program will facilitate studies of many individual gamma-ray emitters,
and will include many multi-wavelength campaigns.
The GBM comprises
two sets of detectors which will cover an energy range from 5 keV to about 30
MeV, and provide burst triggers and locations over a field of view that is greater
than two thirds of the sky. Together the LAT
and GBM provide coverage
of the broadest energy range ever achieved on a single spacecraft. Observations
of gamma-ray bursts over
such a large energy range should help to resolve some of the remaining questions
regarding the origin and energy production mechanisms in these mysterious and
powerful events.
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