HESS (High Energy Stereoscopic System) Source Catalog

H.E.S.S. is a system of Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes for the investigation of cosmic gamma rays in the 100 GeV energy range. The name H.E.S.S. stands for High Energy Stereoscopic System, and should also remind us of Victor Hess, who received in 1936 the Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of cosmic radiation. The instrument allows us to explore gamma-ray sources with intensities at a level of a few thousandth parts of the flux of the Crab nebula. H.E.S.S. is located in Namibia, near the Gamsberg, an area well known for its excellent optical quality. The first of the four telescopes of Phase I of the H.E.S.S. project went into operation in Summer 2002; all four were operational in December 2003, and were officially inaugurated on September 28, 2004. In recognition of its scientific results, H.E.S.S. was awarded the 2006 Descartes Prize for Research of the European Commission. This database table, first created in April 2008, contains the H.E.S.S. source list created by Dr. W. Hofmann and is based on the HTML table at <a href="http://www.mpi-hd.mpg.de/hfm/HESS/public/HESS_catalog.htm">http://www.mpi-hd.mpg.de/hfm/HESS/public/HESS_catalog.htm</a>;. The latter table is updated regularly and this HEASARC table will be updated within one week of any updates. This is a service provided by NASA HEASARC .

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Maintainer Tess Jaffe
Last Updated March 30, 2026, 17:25 (UTC)
Created April 1, 2025, 13:13 (UTC)
accessLevel public
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harvest_source_title Science Discovery Engine
identifier ivo://nasa.heasarc/hesscat
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license https://www.usa.gov/government-works
modified 2026-03-23T22:15:59Z
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publisher High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center
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theme {Astrophysics}