Open AccessFirst Images from HERO, a Hard X‐Ray Focusing Telescope
Author(s) -
Brian D. Ramsey,
Cheryl D. Alexander,
Jeff Apple,
C. M. Benson,
Kurtis L. Dietz,
Ronald F. Elsner,
Darell Engelhaupt,
Kajal K. Ghosh,
Jeffery J. Kolodziejczak,
Stephen L. O’Dell,
Chet O. Speegle,
Douglas A. Swartz,
Martin C. Weisskopf
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
the astrophysical journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.376
H-Index - 489
eISSN - 1538-4357
pISSN - 0004-637X
DOI - 10.1086/338801
Subject(s) - physics , x ray telescope , telescope , payload (computing) , sensitivity (control systems) , optics , x ray optics , x ray astronomy , astronomy , astrophysics , x ray , computer network , electronic engineering , network packet , computer science , engineering
We are developing a balloon-borne hard X-ray telescope that utilizes grazing-incidence optics. Termed HERO, for High-Energy Replicated Optics, the instrument will provide unprecedented sensitivity in the hard X-ray region and will achieve millicrab-level sensitivity in a typical 3 hr balloon-flight observation and 50 μcrab sensitivity on ultralong-duration flights. A recent proof-of-concept flight, featuring a small number of mirror shells, captured the first focused hard X-ray images of galactic X-ray sources. Full details of the payload, its expected future performance, and its recent measurements are provided.
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