When very high energy gamma-rays enter the earth's atmosphere they generate a large electromagnetic cascade of relativistic electrons and positrons which produces a coherent pulse of Cherenkov radiation. This pulse triggers the telescope and is recorded by a focal plane camera comprised of fast photomultipliers. Image processing techniques are then applied to extract gamma-induced showers from the data set. Included in the source list of currently observed objects are: pulsars, X-ray binaries, supernova remnants, active galactic nuclei, black hole candidates and Wolf-Rayet stars. |