Dieses Portal bietet Basiswissen zum Thema Astronomie und zeigt aktuelle Forschungsarbeiten und -kooperationen in der Schweiz auf.

Image: ESO

High Energy Astronomy

Der INTEGRAL Satellit kreist seit 2002 um die Erde.
Image: ESA

High-energy astronomy works in the area of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. This enables researchers to gain insights into processes in space that cannot be detected within the range of visible light.


How does research in high-energy astronomy work?

  • Researchers use satellites to detect gamma rays from the universe and interpret them. Common sources of gamma radiation include black holes, neutron stars and the remains of supernova explosions.
  • The interstellar medium and gamma ray bursts are also of interest in high-energy astronomy. Researchers refer to the former as a mixture of gas and dust grains found between stars. In the latter, extremely high levels of gamma radiation are measured for fractions of a second and up to half a minute. It is still unclear where the radiation comes from. These eruptions are thousands of millions of times more energetic than our Sun and are the most energetic events in our universe.
  • Switzerland is participating in the ESA INTEGRAL (INTErnational Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory) satellite. It has been orbiting far away from the Earth since 2002, as the Earth's atmosphere absorbs gamma rays. Thanks to INTEGRAL, we have, for example, learnt more about the centre of the Milky Way and the Sagittarius A* (SgrA*) black hole, the latter being a source of gamma rays. It would remain hidden behind a cloud of interstellar dust if we studied it using conventional observation methods.

Forschungsgruppen

Measurement of a gamma ray burst by INTEGRAL. The eruption occurred shortly after a gravitational wave was registered.
Measurement of a gamma ray burst by INTEGRAL. The eruption occurred shortly after a gravitational wave was registered.Image: ESA/Integral/SPI/ISDC