All-sky medium energy gamma-ray observatory eXplorer mission concept

R Caputo, M Ajello, CA Kierans… - Journal of …, 2022 - spiedigitallibrary.org
Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems, 2022spiedigitallibrary.org
The All-sky Medium Energy Gamma-ray Observatory eXplorer (AMEGO-X) is designed to
identify and characterize gamma rays from extreme explosions and accelerators. The main
science themes include supermassive black holes and their connections to neutrinos and
cosmic rays; binary neutron star mergers and the relativistic jets they produce; cosmic ray
particle acceleration sources including galactic supernovae; continuous monitoring of other
astrophysical events and sources over the full sky in this important energy range. AMEGO-X …
Abstract
The All-sky Medium Energy Gamma-ray Observatory eXplorer (AMEGO-X) is designed to identify and characterize gamma rays from extreme explosions and accelerators. The main science themes include supermassive black holes and their connections to neutrinos and cosmic rays; binary neutron star mergers and the relativistic jets they produce; cosmic ray particle acceleration sources including galactic supernovae; continuous monitoring of other astrophysical events and sources over the full sky in this important energy range. AMEGO-X will probe the medium energy gamma-ray band using a single instrument with sensitivity up to an order of magnitude greater than previous telescopes in the energy range 100 keV to 1 GeV that can be only realized in space. During its 3-year baseline mission, AMEGO-X will observe nearly the entire sky every two orbits, building up a sensitive all-sky map of gamma-ray sources and emissions. AMEGO-X was submitted in the recent 2021 NASA MIDEX announcement of opportunity.
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