MAGIC (telescope)
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| Organization | MAGIC collaboration |
|---|---|
| Location | La Palma, Canary Islands |
| Wavelength regime | gamma rays |
| Completion date | 2004 |
| Webpage | http://wwwmagic.mppmu.mpg.de/ |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Telescope style | reflector |
| Diameter | 17m |
| Collecting area | 240m2 |
| Focal length | f/D 1.03 |
| Mounting | metal structure |
| Dome | none |
- This article is about the telescope. For other uses, see Magic.
MAGIC is the Major Atmospheric Gamma-ray Imaging Cherenkov Telescope. It is sited at Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on La Palma in the Canary Islands at about 2200m above sea level. Nearby there are some other telescopes amongst them the predecessor experiment HEGRA.
MAGIC has the ability to observe vicariously cosmic gamma-ray in an energy range from 30 GeV up to 30 TeV, whereas it closes an energetic gap between grounded gamma-ray telescopes (detection range above 300 GeV) and Gamma-Satellites (detection range between some keV up to some GeV). Likewise the observation of dark matter perhaps could be possible.
MAGIC detects the particle shower released by the cosmic gamma-rays. (Cherenkov light)
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[edit] Ambitions
MAGIC has the objective to determine a number of goals
- AGNs (Active Galactic Nuclei)
- SNRs (Super Nova Remnants)
- Some unidentified EGRET Sources
- GRBs (Gamma-Ray-Burst)
The results of MAGIC are very interesting for particle physicists, because todays particle accelerators don`t have the ability to excite energys above 115 GeV.
[edit] MAGIC 1
[edit] History
[edit] Technical Data
[edit] Key data
- collecting area 239 m² consisting of 50cm x 50cm Al-reflectors
- leightweight carbon fibre frame
- detector (1,5 m diameter)
- data transfer by fibre optic cable
- signal digitalisation via analog-digital converter (frequenze 300 MHz)
- weight of the whole telescope - 40.000 kg
- reaction time of about 20 sec until reaching every aray of the sky
[edit] Detector
The detector consists of 396 separate hexagonal detection arays in the mid (diameter: 2,54cm) as well as 180 detection arays around (diameter: 3.81cm). Every of this detection arays is composed of photomultipliers.
[edit] MAGIC 2
[edit] History
[edit] Collaborating Institutions
- Institut de Física d'Altes Energies (IFAE), University of Barcelona ,Spain.
- Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona ,Spain
- Institut für Physik, Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany
- Crimean Astrophysical Observatory,Nauchny, Ukraine
- University of California, Davis, USA
- Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain
- Division of Experimental Physics, University of Lodz, Poland
- Max-Planck-Institute for Physics, Munich, Germany
- Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita di Padova and INFN sez. di Padova, Italy
- Space Research Unit, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, South Africa
- Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Siena and INFN sez. di Pisa, Italy
- Institute for Nuclear Research an Nuclear Energy, Sofia, Bulgaria
- Tuorla Observatory Pikkiö, Finland
- Depatimento di Fisica, Universita di Udine and INFN sez. di Trieste, Italy
- University Würzburg, Germany
- Yerevan Physics Institut, Cosmic ray Division, Yerevan, Armenia
- Institut for Particle Physics, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH), Zürich, Switzerland
