Intense and complex instrumental backgrounds, against which the much smaller signals from celestial sources have to be discerned, are a notorious problem for low and intermediate energy γ-ray astronomy (∼ 50 keV – 10 MeV). Therefore a detailed qualitative and quantitative understanding of instrumental line and continuum backgrounds is crucial for most stages of γ-ray astronomy missions, ranging...

A 3-dimensional position sensitive CdZnTe gamma-ray spectrometer based on VAS3.1/TAT3 ASICs was developed and tested. The 3-D CZT spectrometer employs a 1.5 × 1.5 × 1 cm CdZnTe crystal with 11 by 11 pixelated anodes wire-bonded to the readout electronics. The signals from the anode pixels and the cathode were both read out through the ASICs. The pixel position provides the lateral 2-D coordinat...

The Oriented Scintillation Spectrometer Experiment (OSSE) on board the COMPTON Gamma Ray Observatory observed the 1991 June 4 X12+ solar are, one of the most intense nuclear gamma-ray line ares observed to date. Using these OSSE observations, we have derived time prooles of the various components of gamma-ray emission and obtained information about the accelerated particle spectra and compositi...

The Transient Gamma Ray Spectrometer (TGRS) on board the WIND spacecraft has spent most of the interval 1995–1997 in a high-altitude orbit where γ-ray backgrounds are low. Its high-resolution Ge spectrometer is thus able to detect weak lines which are slightly offset from stronger background features. One such line is predicted from nucleosynthesis in classical novae, where β-decays on a time-s...

A giant flare from the Soft Gamma-ray Repeater SGR 1806–20 has been discovered with the INTEGRAL gamma-ray observatory on 2004 December 27 and detected by many other satellites. This tremendous outburst, the first one observed from this source, was a hundred times more powerful than the two giant flares previously observed from other Soft Gamma-ray Repeaters (SGR). The 50 ms resolution light cu...

An improved measurement of the composite 0.05 to 10 MeV gamma-ray spectra as a function of longitude from the inner galactic ridge has been made using the Oriented Scintillation Spectrometer Experiment (OSSE) on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. The continuum appears to be a composite of 3 independent components. A strong positron annihilation contribution is observed toward the center with an...

We report results of a ROSAT High-Resolution Imager (HRI) observation of the X-ray error box given by the BeppoSAX Wide Field Camera for the gamma-ray burst that occurred on 1997 February 28. The observation started 10 days after the burst and ended three days later, with a total exposure of 34.3 ks. An X-ray source was detected within the 3′ WFC error box and its position determined with a 10′...

Introduction: Investigation on the natural radionuclides 238U, 232Th, 40K and natural fallout radionuclide 210Po in the prominent plants species of Western Ghats tropical forest near Kotagiri have been carried out as a part of baseline background radiation studies in the forest environment. Materials and Methods: The prominent plants species of the region Evodia roxburghiana and Eleaocarpus obl...

Data from the Y ohkoh Soft X-ray Telescope (SXT) and Bragg Crystal Spectrometer (BCS) are used to obtain the di†erential emission measure (DEM) of solar Ñare soft X-ray plasma. The maximum entropy method is used to obtain the DEM for 80 Ñares observed by SXT and BCS from 1991 October to 1992 November. We Ðnd that it is often difficult to describe the DEM using a monotonically decreasing functio...

$$\gamma $$ -ray spectroscopy of fission fragments is a powerful method for studies nuclear structure properties. Recent results on the fragments, using combination AGATA tracking array and VAMOS++ large acceptance magnetic spectrometer at GANIL, are reported. A comparison performance germanium detector arrays EXOGAM illustrates advances in fragments. Selected highlighted prompt studies, measur...