"Flashes in the Desert as a Window on the Extremes of Nature"
Prof. John Finley
Department of Physics Purdue University
Abstract
The past fifteen years have been a golden age in the field of gamma-ray astronomy. Space based observatories such as the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory
(CGRO) and the recently launched Large Area Telescope (LAT) on board the Fermi satellite have opened the 30 MeV to 100 GeV energy domain to scientific
investigation. In parallel, ground based gamma-ray astronomy, pioneered by the Whipple collaborations 10 m imaging telescope, has revealed that the
night sky is alive with astrophysical objects emitting photons in the 100 GeV to 10 TeV energy domain. At these energy scales the instruments are
probing the most energetic processes in the Universe involving compact objects, neutron stars and black holes, and large scale particle acceleration
in astrophysical outflows. In this talk I will describe the techniques used in ground based gamma-ray astronomy and briefly review some of the
scientific highlights of the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS), currently the most sensitive instrument available for
the study of very high energy photons.