High Energy Transient Explorer

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HETE-2

High Energy Transient Explorer (HETE) is the name of two research satellites for the rapid localization of gamma-ray bursts .

history

The HETE satellites were developed under the direction of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with further American, Japanese, French and Italian participation. The original HETE experiment with gamma , X-ray and ultraviolet instruments was started on November 14, 1996 , but failed because the satellite could not be separated from the launcher.

HETE-2, a replica of the original mission, was funded under the Explorer program and also known as Explorer 79 . The satellite was launched on October 9, 2000 with an aircraft-based Pegasus rocket and was still in service in spring 2005. In March 2007 only very limited operations were possible.

construction

The most important goal of HETE-2 is the rapid localization of gamma-ray flashes so that other telescopes can automatically point to this position in the sky . For this purpose, it has instruments for the energy ranges 8–500 keV (gamma radiation), 2–25 keV (hard X-ray radiation) and 0.5-14 keV (soft X-ray radiation), each of which covers a large field of view of more than one steradian .

The position of gamma-ray flashes can thus be automatically determined within about a minute to about 10 arc minutes and reported to observers with other telescopes. In some cases, accuracies better than 30 arc seconds can be achieved. The field of view of HETE-2 is directed away from the sun. The areas in which gamma-ray bursts are registered can therefore continue to be observed from Earth during the night in visible light.

See also: BeppoSAX , Integral , Swift

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