A scan of the Galactic plane in the TeV-band with the HEGRA stereoscopic IACT system

Usually, Cherenkov telescopes are used to observe sources which are well established in other wavelength bands. The limited sensitivity of present instruments leads to the fact that most of the sky has never been examined in the TeV band. The HEGRA stereoscopic IACT system is for the first time able to perform scans of extended sky regions with a sensitivity for point sources well below the Crab flux. As a first target for such a scan, part of the Galactic disk was examined. The campaign took 130 hrs of observation time in 1997/98. The observations extended from the Galactic center to the local arm of our Galaxy, where the sun is located (0 < l < 83:5 ; b = 2 ). This region was chosen because of the high concentration of several types of source populations. A first data analysis reveals no hints for strong TeV point sources.