Spare Mirror Segment for the High Energy Stereoscopic System (HESS)

Made:
2000-2003 in Armenia
maker:
Kompas
Spare Mirror Segment for the High Energy Stereoscopic System (HESS) Spare Mirror Segment for the High Energy Stereoscopic System (HESS)

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Creative Commons LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Licence

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Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Spare mirror segment from the H.E.S.S. (High Energy Stereoscopic System ) Telescope, 2000-2003 (see note)

This is a spare mirror segment for one of the four telescopes of HESS, the High Energy Stereoscopic System in Namibia. It is used to observe gamma rays given off in violent cosmic events, such as a star exploding. When these rays are absorbed by the Earth’s atmosphere they produce flashes of blue light. The telescope’s mirror, made up of 382 segments like this one, focuses this light onto a huge camera to be recorded

Details

Category:
Astronomy
Object Number:
2009-44
Measurements:
overall: 17 mm, 600 mm, 12.21 kg
type:
mirror - optical component
credit:
University of Durham, Department of Physics