Bulletin of the AAS (BAAS), volume 40, number 1, 2008 (36.02)
VERITAS (Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System) is a major, newly-comissioned observatory for gamma-ray astronomy in the 100 GeV - 50 TeV energy band. The observatory, located on Mt. Hopkins, AZ, consists of four 12m-diameter telescopes that detect very high-energy gamma rays via the imaging atmospheric Cherenkov technique. VERITAS became fully operational in Spring 2007 and has embarked on a broad program of observations of galactic and extragalactic sources of interest, particularly pulsar nebulae, SNRs, X-ray binaries, AGN, and GRBs. In addition, VERITAS is carrying out sensitive studies of signatures for new physics, such as dark matter annihilations. This talk will outline the main characteristics and performance attributes of VERITAS and will summarize the major results from the observatory in the last six months. VERITAS is operated by a collaboration of scientists from institutions in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and Ireland. Funding is provided by the NSF, DOE, and Smithsonian Institution in the U.S., NSERC in Canada, PPARC in the U.K. and National Science Foundation Ireland.
