H.E.S.S. wird weltweit eines der leistungsfähigsten Instrumente für die Gamma-Astrononomie bei hohen Energien sein.


The H.E.S.S. project
High Energy Stereoscopic System

The H.E.S.S. telescopes are located in the Khomas Highland of Namibia, on the Farm Goellschau, about 100 km south-west of Windhoek. The exact location is 23°16'18'' S, 16°30'00'' E, at 1800 m asl.

The detection of high energy gamma rays with the H.E.S.S. telescopes is based on the imaging air Cherenkov technique.

The mirrors of H.E.S.S. telescopes are focused for an object distance of about 10 km, corresponding to the typical distance of an air shower from the telescopes.

In the design of the H.E.S.S. telescopes, emphasis was placed on the mechanical stability and rigidity of the mount and dish.

The mirror focuses the Cherenkov light of an air shower onto the camera. Relevant for the performance of a telescope are the net mirror area and the quality of the image, i.e. the point spread function (size of the image of a point source).

For cost reasons, the mirror is segmented into 382 round mirror facets of 60 cm diameter, made of aluminized glass with a quartz coating. The mirror has a focal length of 15 m and a d/f ratio of 0.8.

H.E.S.S. is a stereoscopic telescope system, where multiple telescopes view the same air shower.