Discovery of gamma-ray emission from the shell-type supernova remnant RCW 86 with H.E.S.S

Understand

The shell-type supernova remnant (SNR) RCW 86, possibly associated with the historical supernova SN 185, with its relatively large size (about 40' in diameter) and the presence of non-thermal X-rays is a promising target for gamma-ray observations.

• The high sensitivity, good angular resolution of a few arc minutes and the large field of view of the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) make it ideally suited for the study of the gamma-ray morphology of such extended sources.
• H.E.S.S.
• observations have indeed led to the discovery of the SNR RCW 86 in very high energy (VHE; E > 100 GeV) gamma-rays.