MAGIC (telescope)

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MAGIC 1
The MAGIC Telescope
Organization MAGIC collaboration
Location La Palma, Canary Islands
Altitude 2200 m
Wavelength Gamma rays
Built 2004
Telescope style Reflector
Diameter 17m
Collecting area 240 m²
Focal length f/D 1.03
Mounting metal structure
Website http://wwwmagic.mppmu.mpg.de/

MAGIC (Major Atmospheric Gamma-ray Imaging Cherenkov Telescope) is a Gamma-ray telescope situated at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on La Palma, one of the Canary Islands, at about 2200 m above sea level. It detects particle showers released by cosmic gamma-rays, using the Cherenkov radiation, i.e., faint light radiated by the charged particles in the showers. With a diameter of 17 meters for the reflecting surface, it is the largest in the world.

A second MAGIC telescope (MAGIC 2) is close to completion at a distance of 85 m from the first one; it will be inaugurated on September 19, 2008.

MAGIC is sensitive to cosmic gamma rays with energies between 50 GeV and 30 TeV due to its large mirror; other ground-based gamma-ray telescopes typically observe gamma energies above 2-300 GeV. Satellite-based detectors detect gamma-rays in the energy range from keV up to several GeV).

Contents

[edit] Aims

The goals of the telescope are to detect and study primarily photons coming from:

[edit] Technical specifications

The telescope has the following specifications:

  • A collecting area 236 m² consisting of 50 cm x 50 cm Aluminium individual reflectors
  • A lightweight carbon fibre frame
  • A detector consisting of 396 separate hexagonal photomultiplier detectors in the center

(diameter: 2.54 cm) surrounded by 180 larger photomultiplier detectors (diameter: 3.81 cm).

  • Data are transferred in analogue form by fibre optic cables
  • Signal digitization is done via an ADC (analog-digital converter) of frequency 2 GHz
  • The weight of the whole telescope is 40,000 kg
  • The reaction time to move to any section of the sky is up to 40 seconds

[edit] Collaborating Institutions

During foggy nights, the laser reference beams of MAGIC's active control can be seen
During foggy nights, the laser reference beams of MAGIC's active control can be seen

Physicists from over twenty institutions in Germany, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Finland, Poland, Bulgaria and Armenia collaborate in using MAGIC; the largest groups are at

[edit] References

  • C.Baixeras et al. (MAGIC Collaboration), Commissioning and first tests of the MAGIC telescope, Nucl.Inst.Meth. A518, 188 (2004)
  • J. Albert et al. (MAGIC Collaboration), Variable Very High Energy Gamma-ray Emission from the Microquasar LSI +61 303, Science 312, 1771 (2006)
  • A. De Angelis and L. Peruzzo, Das Gammastrahlen-Teleskop MAGIC, Sterne und Weltraum, August 2007 (in German); also in Le Scienze, April 2007 (in Italian)

[edit] External links

Coordinates: 28°45′43″N, 17°53′24″W