H.E.S.S. Group Tübingen
This is the home page of the H.E.S.S. working group in Tübingen.
Introduction to the H.E.S.S. project
H.E.S.S. is a system of Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes for the investigation of cosmic gamma rays in the 100 GeV energy range. The name H.E.S.S. stands for High Energy Stereoscopic System, and was chosen also in remembrance of Victor Hess, who received in 1936 the Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of cosmic radiation. The instrument allows to explore gamma-ray sources with intensities at a level of a few thousandth parts of the flux of the Crab nebula. H.E.S.S. is located in Namibia, near the Gamsberg, an area well known for its excellent optical quality. The first of the four telescopes of Phase I of the H.E.S.S. project went into operation in Summer 2002; all four were operational in December 2003, and were officially inaugurated on September 28, 2004. The second extended phase of HESS is currently in preparation.
An introduction to the physics and instruments of H.E.S.S. is given in the broshure created for the 2004 inauguration: pdf in screen resolution (1.6 MB) and full-resolution ppt (15 MB).
