Nuclear Compton Telescope Explained

The Nuclear Compton Telescope (NCT) is a balloon-borne Compton telescope to observe the gamma-ray sky in the energy range from a few hundred keV to several MeV. Its main goals are to improve the understanding of Galactic nucleosynthesis, gamma-ray bursts, supernovae, black holes, and more.^[1]

Instrumentation

The Compton telescope uses an array of twelve Germanium detectors with high spectral resolution to detect gamma rays. On its bottom half the detector is surrounded by a Bismuth germanate scintillator to shield it from atmospheric gamma rays. The telescope has an overall field of view (FOV) of 25% of the sky.

Flights

Since low-to-medium-energy gamma rays are only detectable from above the atmosphere, NCT is launched with a large 1abbr=unitNaNabbr=unit Helium balloon into the stratosphere. So far NCT had two successful and one unsuccessful balloon campaigns:

• A two-detector prototype was successfully test flown on 1 June 2005 from the Scientific Balloon Flight Facility, Fort Sumner, New Mexico.^{[2] [3]}
• On 19 May 2009, the full instrument successfully launched from Fort Sumner in New Mexico and was able to observe the Crab pulsar.^[4]
• Unfortunately, on 28 April 2010 a launch mishap occurred at Alice Springs, Australia, when the gondola release mechanism failed, leading to the partial destruction of the gondola.^{[5] [6]}

Notes and References

1. Web site: NCT.
2. Web site: Zoglauer. Andreas. The Balloon Flights of the Nuclear Compton Telescope NCT. Max Planck Institute. 21 July 2010. Boggs, SE. Bandstra, M. Bellm, E. Perez-Becker, D. Wunderer, CB.. PDF. 9 January 2007. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20091102211947/http://www.mpe.mpg.de/gamma/science/lines/workshops/AwRVI/Zoglauer_NCT_AwR08.pdf. 2 November 2009. dmy-all.
3. Web site: Details of the balloon and launch operations. Stratocat. 21 July 2010.
4. Web site: Huang' . Ming-Huey . The Nuclear Compton Telescope (NCT): a status report after 2009 balloon flight . PROCEEDINGS OF THE 31st ICRC, ŁODZ 2009. Nuclear Compton Telescope team. 21 July 2010. Ming-Huey A. Huang'. Amman, M. Bandstra, ME. Bellm, E.. etal. PDF.
5. News: Nasa space balloon crashes into car during takeoff . https://web.archive.org/web/20100430060504/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/7649844/Nasa-space-balloon-crashes-into-car-during-takeoff.html. dead. 30 April 2010. The Daily Telegraph (Telegraph.co.uk). 21 July 2010. Text and video. 29 April 2010 . London . Bonnie . Malkin.
6. Web site: NASA Balloon Suffers Mishap in Australia. NASA. 21 July 2010.