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Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 143, 145-179
The first COMPTEL source catalogue
V. Schönfelder1 - K. Bennett4 - J.J. Blom2 - H. Bloemen2 - W. Collmar1 - A. Connors3 - R. Diehl1 - W. Hermsen2
- A. Iyudin1 - R.M. Kippen3 - J. Knödlseder5 - L. Kuiper2 - G.G. Lichti1 - M. McConnell3 - D. Morris3 - R. Much4 - U. Oberlack1 - J. Ryan3 - G. Stacy3 - H. Steinle1 - A. Strong1 - R. Suleiman3 - R. van Dijk4 - M. Varendorff1 - C. Winkler4 - O.R. Williams4
Send offprint request:
V. Schönfelder, e-mail: vos@mpe.mpg.de
1 - Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik,
D-85740 Garching, Germany
2 -
SRON-Utrecht, Sorbonnelaan 2, NL-3584 CA Utrecht, The Netherlands
3 -
Space Science Center, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824-3525, U.S.A.
4 -
Astrophysics Division, ESTEC, NL-2200 AG Noordwijk, The Netherlands
5 -
Centre d'Étude Spatiale des Rayonnements (CESR), BP. 4346,
F-31029 Toulouse Cedex, France
Received July 28; accepted December 20, 1999
Abstract:
The imaging Compton telescope COMPTEL aboard NASA's Compton
Gamma-Ray Observatory has opened the MeV gamma-ray band as a new window to
astronomy. COMPTEL provided the first complete all-sky survey in the energy
range 0.75 to 30 MeV. The catalogue, presented here, is largely restricted
to published results. It contains firm as well as marginal detections of
continuum and line emitting sources and presents upper limits for various
types of objects. The numbers of the most significant detections are 32 for
steady sources and 31 for gamma-ray bursters. Among the continuum sources,
detected so far, are spin-down pulsars, stellar black-hole candidates, supernova
remnants, interstellar clouds, nuclei of active galaxies, gamma-ray bursters, and
the Sun during solar flares. Line detections have been made in the light of the
1.809 MeV
26Al line, the 1.157 MeV
44Ti line, the 847 and 1238 keV
56Co
lines, and the neutron capture line at 2.223 MeV. For the identification of galactic
sources, a modelling of the diffuse galactic emission is essential. Such a modelling
at this time does not yet exist at the required degree of accuracy. Therefore, a
second COMPTEL source catalogue will be produced after a detailed and accurate
modelling of the diffuse interstellar emission has become possible.
Key words: gamma rays: observations -- catalogs --
surveys
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