Science with AGILE

AGILE is an ASI Small Scientific Mission dedicated to high-energy astrophysics. The AGILE instrument is designed to detect and image photons in the 30 MeV-50 GeV and 10-40 keV energy bands, with excellent spatial resolution and timing capability, and an unprecedently large field of view covering ~1/4 of the entire sky at energies above 30 MeV. Primary scientific goals include the study of AGNS, gamma-ray bursts, Galactic sources, unidentified gamma-ray sources, diffuse Galactic and extragalactic gamma-ray emission, high-precision timing studies, and Quantum Gravity testing. The AGILE Science Program will be open to the international scientific community. AGILE is planned to be operational during the year 2002, and will be the only mission entirely dedicated to high-energy astrophysics above 30 MeV to support multiwavelength studies during the period 2002-2005. .