Astronomy:Nuclear Compton Telescope
The Nuclear Compton Telescope (NCT) is a balloon-borne Compton telescope to observe the gamma-ray sky in the energy range from a few hundred keV to several MeV. Its main goals are to improve the understanding of Galactic nucleosynthesis, gamma-ray bursts, supernovae, black holes, and more.[1]
Instrumentation
The Compton telescope uses an array of twelve Germanium detectors with high spectral resolution to detect gamma rays. On its bottom half the detector is surrounded by a Bismuth germanate scintillator to shield it from atmospheric gamma rays. The telescope has an overall field of view (FOV) of 25% of the sky.
Flights
Since low-to-medium-energy gamma rays are only detectable from above the atmosphere, NCT is launched with a large 1-million m3 (35-million cu ft) Helium balloon into the stratosphere. So far NCT had two successful and one unsuccessful balloon campaigns:
- A two-detector prototype was successfully test flown on 1 June 2005 from the Scientific Balloon Flight Facility, Fort Sumner, New Mexico.[2][3]
- On 19 May 2009, the full instrument successfully launched from Fort Sumner in New Mexico and was able to observe the Crab pulsar.[4]
- Unfortunately, on 28 April 2010 a launch mishap occurred at Alice Springs, Australia , when the gondola release mechanism failed, leading to the partial destruction of the gondola.[5][6]
References
- ↑ "NCT". http://hea.ssl.berkeley.edu/research/nct/.
- ↑ Zoglauer, Andreas; Boggs, SE. Bandstra, M. Bellm, E. Perez-Becker, D. Wunderer, CB. (9 January 2007). "The Balloon Flights of the Nuclear Compton Telescope NCT" (PDF). Max Planck Institute. Archived from the original on 2 November 2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20091102211947/http://www.mpe.mpg.de/gamma/science/lines/workshops/AwRVI/Zoglauer_NCT_AwR08.pdf. Retrieved 21 July 2010.
- ↑ "Details of the balloon and launch operations". Stratocat. http://stratocat.com.ar/fichas-e/2009/FSU-20090517.htm. Retrieved 21 July 2010.
- ↑ Huang', Ming-Huey; Ming-Huey A. Huang'. "The Nuclear Compton Telescope (NCT): a status report after 2009 balloon flight" (PDF). PROCEEDINGS OF THE 31st ICRC, ŁODZ 2009. Nuclear Compton Telescope team. http://www.srl.utu.fi/AuxDOC/kocharov/ICRC2009/pdf/icrc0952.pdf. Retrieved 21 July 2010.
- ↑ Malkin, Bonnie (29 April 2010). "Nasa space balloon crashes into car during takeoff" (Text and video). London: The Daily Telegraph (Telegraph.co.uk). https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/7649844/Nasa-space-balloon-crashes-into-car-during-takeoff.html. Retrieved 21 July 2010.
- ↑ "NASA Balloon Suffers Mishap in Australia". NASA. http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/balloon_mishap.html. Retrieved 21 July 2010.
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