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Present status of γ-ray astronomy

Nature volume 277, pages 17–21 (1979)Cite this article

Abstract

Diffuse extragalactic γ-ray flux may be due to individual objects, and two possible sources are 3C273 and NGC4151. The Milky Way is an intense line source exhibiting a large contrast in emissivity between the directions towards and away from the galactic centre, respectively, γ-ray point sources and cosmic rays interacting with interstellar material are both responsible for this emission—the latter decreasing away from the centre. Twenty-one point sources have been discovered to date, including f our pulsars which all have two maxima with ∼0.4 phase separation. If the number and position of γ-ray point sources are proportional to the stellar birth rate, the bulk of the galactic emission can then be explained by 5,000 sources emitting the 1042 photons > 100 MeV s−1 produced in the galaxy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max-Planck-Institut für Physik und Astrophysik, Institut für extraterrestrische Physik, D-8046, Garching, FRG

    K. Pinkau

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Pinkau, K. Present status of γ-ray astronomy. Nature 277, 17–21 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1038/277017a0

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