European Space Agency’s Integral observatory has helped astronomers in constructing the largest catalogue of individual gamma-ray emitting celestial bodies.
Integral began its operations in 2003 and since then it has discovered 421 gamma-ray emitting objects in the sky that it has searched.
Astronomers associated with Integral have stated that the gamma-ray sky is highly unpredictable and needs constant vigilance by Integral.
Integral has been collecting survey data for a period of three and a half years now and at the end of each year the data has been turned into a catalogue of sources.
During the first year of operation Integral discovered more than 120 sources and in the following year it was able to detect more than 100 new sources. The figure now rests at 421 and astronomers are quite sure of detecting more and more similar sources with the passage of time.
Till now integral has scanned more than 70% of the sky with a total exposure time of more than 40 million seconds. The catalogue now contains 421 sources out of which most have been identified as either binary stars in our galaxy containing exotic objects such as black holes and neutron stars, or active galaxies, far away in space. Still we have not been able to identify the remaining sources.
Integral now points away from our own galaxy and is continuously detecting more and more similar active galaxies which according to the researchers represent about a tenth of all galaxies in the universe.
Via: physorg
