Heidelberg Joint Astronomical Colloquium

Speaker Stefan Wagner
Title Very High Energy Astrophysics
Abstract

With the successful implementation of Imaging Cherenkov Telescopes during the last decade, the electromagnetic spectrum available for astrophysical exploration has been extended by four orders of magnitude into the Very High Energy domain. A large variety of astronomical sources have been found to emit major fractions of their luminosity in gamma-rays with photon energies extending up to 100 TeV. The gamma-ray studies revealed amazing characteristics in well-studied Galactic and extragalactic objects, a selection of which will be presented in this overview. The talk will also describe the status of new facilities which are in preparatory and construction phases.