Telescope Array Project: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 05:58, 3 October 2012

Revision as of 01:53, 26 December 2012

Line 1:

[[Image:Taplogo.png|thumbright|200px|TheTelescope group'sArray Project logo]]

The '''Telescope Array project''' is an international collaboration involving research and educational institutions in Japan, Taiwan, China, Russia, South Korea, and the United States. The experiment is designed to observe [[ultra-high-energy cosmic ray]] air showers using a combination of ground array and air-fluorescence techniques. It is located in the high desert in [[Millard County, Utah|Millard County]], [[Utah]] (USA) at about {{convert|1400|m|ft|sp=us}} above sea level.

Line 9 ⟶ 8:

==Cosmic Ray Center==

The Lon and Mary Watson Millard County Cosmic Ray Center was dedicated on March 20, 2006.<ref>Draper, Dean (March 22, 2006). "Cosmic ray center dedicated". Millard County Chronicle Progress</ref> The center is located in Delta - the seat of Millard County. The building serves as a headquarters and data processing center for the TA Project.

==Surface detector==

The surface detectors are evenly distributed across a 762&nbsp;km² grid array with 1.2&nbsp;km between each unit. Each surface detector has an assembled weight of 250&nbsp;kg and consists of a power supply, two layers of scintillation detectors and electronics. Power is generated by a 120W solar panel and stored in a sealed lead-acid battery. The system has the capacity to operate for one week in complete darkness. Each scintillation detector layer is made of extruded plastic scintillator that is 1.2&nbsp;cm thick and has an area of 3m². The photo multiplier tube is connected to the scintillator via 96 wavelength-shifting fibers.

==FD station, telescope, and camera==

[[Image:BRM-FD-open.jpg|thumb|200px|right|a view of the Black Rock Mesa FD site with the doors open]]

{{GeoGroup}}

The Telescope Array has three fluorescence detector stations. The stations are located on a triangle about 35&nbsp;km apart from one another. Each station has 12-14 telescopes viewing the range from 3 to 33 degrees in elevation. The three sites are named ''Black Rock Mesa'' (BRM), ''Long Ridge'' (LR), and ''Middle Drum'' (MD).<ref>http://www.telescopearray.org/index.php/research/clear-sky-clocks</ref>

Each telescope has a fluorescence light camera made up of 256 PMTs.

[[Image:BRM-FD-open.jpg|thumb|200px|right|a view of the Black Rock Mesa FD site with the doors open]]

{| class="wikitable"

==TALE==

|+Stations

|-

|Black Rock Mesa||{{Coord|39|11|18|N|112|42|42|W|format=dms|display=inline|name=Black Rock Mesa|type:landmark_region:US-UT}}||<ref name="Blackrock">{{cite web

|url =http://cleardarksky.com/c/TcpAr4UTkey.html?1

|title =Telescope Array Black Rock Mesa FD

|author =A. Danko

|publisher =Telescope Array Project

|accessdate =2012-12-25

}}</ref>

|-

|Long Ridge||{{Coord|39|12|28|N|113|07|17|W|format=dms|display=inline|name=Long Ridge|type:landmark_region:US-UT}}||<ref name="Longridge">{{cite web

|url =http://cleardarksky.com/c/TcpAr3UTkey.html?1

|title =Telescope Array Long Ridge FD

|publisher =Telescope Array Project

|author =A. Danko

|accessdate =2012-12-25

}}</ref>

|-

|Middle Drum||{{Coord|39|28|22|N|112|59|37|W|format=dms|display=inline|name=Middle Drum|type:landmark_region:US-UT}}||<ref name="Middledrum">{{cite web

|url =http://cleardarksky.com/c/TcpAr2UTkey.html?1

|title =Telescope Array Middle Drum FD

|publisher =Telescope Array Project

|author =A. Danko

|accessdate =2012-12-25

}}</ref>

|-

|Central Laser Facility||{{Coord|39|17|49|N|112|54|31|W|format=dms|display=inline|type:landmark_region:US-UT}}||<ref name="Centrallaser">{{cite web

|url =http://cleardarksky.com/c/TcpAryObUTkey.html?1

|title =Telescope Array Central Laser Facility

|publisher =Telescope Array Project

|author =A. Danko

|accessdate =2012-12-25

}}</ref>

|}

==TALE==

TALE is the Telescope Array Low Energy extension. It is designed to observe cosmic rays with energies between 3x103×10¹⁶eV and 10¹⁹eV. TALE has two fluorescence sites, one of which is located about 5&nbsp;km away from the Black Rock Mesa FD site, and another which is about 5&nbsp;km away from the Long Ridge FD site.<ref name="tawebsite">www.telescopearray.org/research.html</ref>

The TALE tower is a tower of fluorescence telescopes looking from near zenith to near horizon. These telescopes have 3m diameter mirrors to push the energy threshold of observable events as low as possible.

Line 35 ⟶ 68:

==External links==

*[http://www.telescopearray.org/ Telescope Array Project - official webpage]

{{coord missing|Utah}}

[[Category:High energy particle telescopes]]