The next generation Cherenkov Telescope Array observatory: CTA

Understand

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is a large collaborative effort aimed at the design and operation of an observatory dedicated to the VHE gamma-ray astrophysics in the energy range 30 GeV-100 TeV, which will improve by about one order of magnitude the sensitivity with respect to the current major arrays (H.E.S.S., MAGIC, and VERITAS).

• In order to achieve such improved performance, for both the northern and southern CTA sites, four units of 23m diameter Large Size Telescopes (LSTs) will be deployed close to the centre of the array with telescopes separated by about 100m.
• A larger number (about 25 units) of 12m Medium Size Telescopes (MSTs, separated by about 150m), will cover a larger area.
• The southern site will also include up to 24 Schwarzschild-Couder dual-mirror medium-size Telescopes (SCTs) with the primary mirror diameter of 9.5m.