AGILE: The Next High-Energy Gamma-Ray Mission
Abstract
In this presentation we review the current status of the AGILE Mission. AGILE, a Small Scientific Mission of the Italian Space Agency (ASI) will study celestial sources emitting in the gamma-ray energy band 30 MeV - 50 GeV, combined - for the first time in high-energy gamma-ray astronomy - with monitoring capabilities in the hard X-ray band 10 - 40 keV.
Because of its large field of view ( ∼ 3 sr), the small deadtime (lower than 200 microsec), and broad-band detection capabilities, AGILE is ideal to perform a large number of tasks: monitoring active galactic nuclei (AGNs),detecting gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) with high efficiency, mapping the diffuse Galactic and extragalactic emission, studying pulsed gamma-ray emission from radiopulsars, and monitoring the many unidentified sources contributing to their unveiling. The AGILE Mission is planned to operate during the years 2004-2006 and its Science Program emphasizes the quick reaction to transients and rapid communication of science data for fast follow-up multiwavelength observations.- Publication:
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AAS/High Energy Astrophysics Division #7
- Pub Date:
- March 2003
- Bibcode:
- 2003HEAD....7.2204T