CHERENKOV TELESCOPE ARRAY (CTA)

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is the next-generation ground-based observatory for gamma-ray astronomy, designed to detect gamma rays with energies ranging from 20 GeV to 300 TeV. With over 100 telescopes distributed across both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, CTA will be the largest and most sensitive high-energy gamma-ray observatory in the world.

Utilizing the latest detector technology, CTA will be ten times more sensitive than current gamma-ray observatories and will offer unprecedented precision in detecting high-energy gamma rays.

Existing gamma-ray telescope arrays – H.E.S.S., MAGIC, and VERITAS – are limited to a maximum of five telescopes. In contrast, CTA is designed to observe gamma rays over a much larger area, employing an array of telescopes of varying sizes, ranging from 4 to 23 meters in diameter, to optimize coverage of the energy range typical of gamma-ray astronomical sources. To ensure full-sky coverage, CTA will consist of two separate arrays:

• CTA-North, located in the Canary Islands
• CTA-South, situated in Chile.

Together, these arrays will form the CTA Observatory (CTAO), whose headquarters are based in Bologna, Italy.

CTA will explore the universe by detecting the highest-energy photons ever measured, enabling the study of cosmic sources that generate cosmic rays and investigating the most extreme astrophysical phenomena.

The INAF – Astrophysical Observatory of Catania has been involved in the CTA project from the beginning through ASTRI, a national initiative focused on developing new technologies and the Italian end-to-end prototype of CTAO’s smallest telescope model, ASTRI-Horn. ASTRI-Horn has been operational since 2014 at the Serra la Nave observatory site on Mount Etna, managed by the Astrophysical Observatory of Catania.

An evolved version of the ASTRI prototype telescope has been selected by CTAO for the construction of Small-Sized Telescopes (SSTs), which will populate the southern site of the observatory.

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