Editor's Summary

9 February 2006

Central issues

Events at the centre of our Galaxy are key to our understanding of high-energy processes in the Universe, since it contains examples of virtually every type of exotic object known to astronomers. The very-high-energy -ray emission from the Galactic Centre region has now been measured using HESS, the High Energy Stereoscopic System recently constructed in Namibia, South West Africa. HESS operates at energies above the regime accessible to satellite-based detectors, taking -ray astronomy into new territory. The results show that these clouds are glowing in very high energy -rays. The glow is caused by constant bombardment of the clouds by cosmic rays — probably protons and nuclei — produced close to the central black hole or in the expanding blast waves of supernova explosions.

Letter: Discovery of very-high-energy -rays from the Galactic Centre ridge

F. Aharonian, A. G. Akhperjanian, A. R. Bazer-Bachi, M. Beilicke, W. Benbow, D. Berge, K. Bernlöhr, C. Boisson, O. Bolz, V. Borrel, I. Braun, F. Breitling, A. M. Brown, P. M. Chadwick, L.-M. Chounet, R. Cornils, L. Costamante, B. Degrange, H. J. Dickinson, A. Djannati-Ataï, L. O'C. Drury, G. Dubus, D. Emmanoulopoulos, P. Espigat, F. Feinstein, G. Fontaine, Y. Fuchs, S. Funk, Y. A. Gallant, B. Giebels, S. Gillessen, J. F. Glicenstein, P. Goret, C. Hadjichristidis, D. Hauser, M. Hauser, G. Heinzelmann, G. Henri, G. Hermann, J. A. Hinton, W. Hofmann, M. Holleran, D. Horns, A. Jacholkowska, O. C. de Jager, B. Khélifi, S. Klages, Nu. Komin, A. Konopelko, I. J. Latham, R. Le Gallou, A. Lemière, M. Lemoine-Goumard, N. Leroy, T. Lohse, A. Marcowith, J. M. Martin, O. Martineau-Huynh, C. Masterson, T. J. L. McComb, M. de Naurois, S. J. Nolan, A. Noutsos, K. J. Orford, J. L. Osborne, M. Ouchrif, M. Panter, G. Pelletier, S. Pita, G. Pühlhofer, M. Punch, B. C. Raubenheimer, M. Raue, J. Raux, S. M. Rayner, A. Reimer, O. Reimer, J. Ripken, L. Rob, L. Rolland, G. Rowell, V. Sahakian, L. Saugé, S. Schlenker, R. Schlickeiser, C. Schuster, U. Schwanke, M. Siewert, H. Sol, D. Spangler, R. Steenkamp, C. Stegmann, J.-P. Tavernet, R. Terrier, C. G. Théoret, M. Tluczykont, C. van Eldik, G. Vasileiadis, C. Venter, P. Vincent, H. J. Völk and S. J. Wagner

doi:10.1038/nature04467

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