The Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO) is an international endeavour to build and operate a world-leading facility for gamma ray astronomy at the highest energies. From 2026 onwards, the first of more than 60 telescopes at the southern CTAO site will begin observations of the universe at the extreme upper end of the electromagnetic spectrum.
The Max-Planck-Institute für Kernphysik (MPIK) in Heidelberg has been strongly involved in this project since its conception. Amongst other contributions from MPIK are two camera systems for two of the different telescope models, where the institute play a leading role.
For the Small-Sized Telescopes (SST) around 40 cameras will be built at the institute. These will be installed on the southern CTA-site in the Atacama Desert in Chile, targeting the highest energy emission: up to 10 times more energy than possible with previous generation Cherenkov telescopes.
Last week a successful test of the new camera design was carried out. A prototype, known as QCAMi, was transported to Tenerife and integrated into a telescope structure at the Teide Observatory, as part of a collaborative effort with the ASTRI Mini-Array project. Within hours of installation, the QCAMi camera was able to record its first ever signals from the night sky, the so-called first light, rapidly demonstrating its functionality.
“This is a significant step toward validating the SST camera design”, reports Dr. Richard White, who leads both the MPIK SST team and the global SST camera project. “It’s extremely encouraging to see the camera functioning so well in a real telescope environment.”
Even with only a quarter of the final 2048 pixels implemented in this engineering prototype, the team could demonstrate the excellent performance of the camera, including capturing muon rings and cosmic ray showers moving across the camera on nanosecond timescales.
The SST camera project is a collaborative international effort involving institutes from Germany, the Netherlands, Japan, the UK, and Australia. At MPIK, the project is led by Dr. White and driven by Dr. Davide Depaoli (postdoctoral researcher), Isabella Sofia, and Frederik Wohlleben (PhD students), with essential support from the institute’s mechanical and electronic workshops.
The team gratefully acknowledges the hospitality of the ASTRI Mini-Array project and the Teide Observatory during the Tenerife installation and test campaign.
