ESA's INTEGRAL (INTErnational Gamma Ray Astrophysics Laboratories) is orbiting in a highly elliptical orbit around Earth. And it takes three days to orbit once around Earth.
INTEGRAL was launched on 17th October, 2002. Its mission is to study black holes, neutron stars, pulsars, active galactic nuclei, Supernovae, Gamma Ray Bursts etc.
It's the most sensitive gamma-ray Observatory ever launched. To detect Gamma rays from the objects in the universe an instrument needs to go in space because Earth's protective layer prevents them from reaching the ground.
INTEGRAL can observe objects in gamma-rays, X-rays and visible light. There are two detectors on INTEGRAL to detect gamma rays from space - an imager (IBIS - Imager on-board INTEGRAL) and an spectrometer (SPI - Spectrometer on INTEGRAL). Other two instruments are JEM-X (Joint European X-ray Monitor) and OMC (Optical monitoring Camera). OMC can detect stars with visual magnitude up to 19.7. It's a standard optical refractor with 5-cm lens and a CCD of 2055×1056 pixels in the focal plane.
On 14th August, the merger of two neutron stars that triggered the LIGO detectors fifth time also triggered the instruments on board INTEGRAL. And It was recorded as a 2 second gamma-ray-burst prior to the gravitational wave detection.
It became the first event to be observed in gravitational waves and in electromagnetic spectrum by lots of ground based and space based Telescopes in addition to the LIGO detectors.
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| Credit: ESA/ D. Ducros |
INTEGRAL was launched on 17th October, 2002. Its mission is to study black holes, neutron stars, pulsars, active galactic nuclei, Supernovae, Gamma Ray Bursts etc.
It's the most sensitive gamma-ray Observatory ever launched. To detect Gamma rays from the objects in the universe an instrument needs to go in space because Earth's protective layer prevents them from reaching the ground.
INTEGRAL can observe objects in gamma-rays, X-rays and visible light. There are two detectors on INTEGRAL to detect gamma rays from space - an imager (IBIS - Imager on-board INTEGRAL) and an spectrometer (SPI - Spectrometer on INTEGRAL). Other two instruments are JEM-X (Joint European X-ray Monitor) and OMC (Optical monitoring Camera). OMC can detect stars with visual magnitude up to 19.7. It's a standard optical refractor with 5-cm lens and a CCD of 2055×1056 pixels in the focal plane.
On 14th August, the merger of two neutron stars that triggered the LIGO detectors fifth time also triggered the instruments on board INTEGRAL. And It was recorded as a 2 second gamma-ray-burst prior to the gravitational wave detection.
It became the first event to be observed in gravitational waves and in electromagnetic spectrum by lots of ground based and space based Telescopes in addition to the LIGO detectors.
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