The ASTRI-Horn Cherenkov Telescope has detected the Crab Nebula with TeV energies, and the North-West University (NWU) played a part in achieving this.

The Crab Nebula is the remnant of a supernova in the constellation of Taurus and TeV stands for Terra Electron Volts, which is a unit of measurement. 

The Crab Nebula was first seen with TeV energies 30 years ago. However, what makes this observation so unique, is that the telescope uses the innovative Schwarzschild-Couder duel-mirror configuration, which means the observation proves that the technology works.

The NWU forms part of a group universities that participate in the ASTRI project. The project is led by the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics with the support of the Minister of Education, Universities and Research. Various Italian universities such as Perugia, Padov, Roma Tor Vergata and the Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics also collaborate in the project, as well as the Universidade de Sao Paulo and FAPEST in Brazil.

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is a global initiative aimed at building the world’s largest and most sensitive high-energy gamma-ray observatory with 118 telescopes across two sites – one in the northern and the other in the southern hemisphere. In the north telescopes are located on the island La Palma, Spain and in the south near Paranal, Chile.

More than 1 400 scientists and engineers from 31 countries across five continents and more than 200 research institutes participate in the CTA project.