PoS - Proceedings of Science
Volume 444 - 38th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC2023) - Gamma-ray Astronomy (GA)
Status and performance of the ASTRI-Horn dual mirror air-Cherenkov telescope after a major maintenance and refurbishment intervention
G. Leto*, G. Bellassai, C. Bigongiari, B. Biondo, G.E. Bruno, M. Capalbi, O. Catalano, V. Conforti, G. Contino, A. A. Compagnino, M. Corpora, S. Crestan, C. Gargano, S. Garozzo, F. Gianotti, V. Giordano, A. Grillo, S. Iovenitti, N. La Palombara, F.P. Lo Gerfo, S. Lombardi, D. Marano, E. Martinetti, A. Micciché, R. Millul, T. Mineo, D. Mollica, G. Nicotra, G. Pareschi, F. Russo, P. Sangiorgi, G. Sironi, S. Scuderi, G. Sottile, G. Tosti  on behalf of the ASTRI projectet al. (click to show)
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Pre-published on: July 25, 2023
Published on: September 27, 2024
Abstract
The ASTRI-Horn telescope has been developed under the leadership of the Italian National
Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) as a prototype of a compact aplanatic dual-mirror (4 m diameter) Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope (IACT) with a large FoV (8◦). It is the pathfinder of the small-size telescopes adopted for both the ASTRI Mini-Array (Tenerife, Canary Islands) and the SST/CTA array (Paranal, Chile) to perform 1-200 TeV gamma-ray astronomy with an unprecedented combination of high angular/energy resolution and flux sensitivity across a large Field of View. ASTRI-Horn is a complete end-to-end system; since 2014 it is installed in Italy at the INAF "M.G. Fracastoro" observing station (Mt. Etna, Sicily). The telescope already successfully demonstrated, first time ever, the optical behavior of a dual-mirror Schwarzschild-Couder telescope as a Cherenkov system, and also obtained the first gamma-ray source detection, the Crab Nebula. During 2020-2022, ASTRI-Horn - which operates in a harsh environment on an active volcano - has been subject to significant maintenance and refurbishment to restore systems and improve performance. Mirrors have been substituted, adopting high-performance new-recipe coatings, and the camera electronics has been further optimized. Now the telescope is extensively used for cosmic rays, gamma rays, and muon-radiography of the Etna volcano investigations.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22323/1.444.0729
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