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J. P. Finley (Purdue University), for the VERITAS Collaboration
The Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) combines the benefits of the imaging atmospheric Cherenkov technique using large optical reflectors with the power of stereoscopic observatories using arrays of separated telescopes looking at the same shower. The identical telescopes in VERITAS are based upon the Whipple 10 m optical reflector but with significant differences. The optical support structure will carry 350 hexagonal mirrors, 60 cm across the flats and 70 cm tip-to-tip, yielding an equivalent aperture of 12 m. The focal length of the collector, 12 m, provides a fast f/1 system. The telescopes will be deployed in a hexagonal pattern of side 80 m and each will have a camera consisting of 499 pixels. The angular scale of the pixels is 0.15 degrees in the focal plane and the field of view of each camera is 3.5 degrees in diameter. A prototype telescope is near completion and the Phase I array is scheduled for first light at the end of 2005. The sensitivity of VERITAS is more than a factor of 10 improvement over a single telescope and the peak of the sensitivity is at 100 GeV with good sensitivity down to 50 GeV. The complement of VERITAS and GLAST will effectively open one of the last remaining windows on the Universe between 10 GeV and 100 GeV.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 35 #3
© 2003. The American Astronomical Soceity.