Initial results from the Advanced Scintillator Compton Telescope (ASCOT) Balloon Flight

• Published in: 2019 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference (NSS/MIC) pp. 1 - 4
• Main Authors: Sharma, Tejaswita, Bloser, Peter F., Legere, Jason S., Bancroft, Christopher M., Frost, Colin, McConnell, Mark L., Ryan, James M.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01.10.2019
• Subjects: Calibration; Detectors; Gamma-rays; Neutrons; Scintillators; Telescopes
• ISSN: 2577-0829
• DOI: 10.1109/NSS/MIC42101.2019.9059725

A medium-energy gamma-ray Compton telescope called the Advanced Scintillator Compton Telescope (ASCOT) was designed to address the existing need for observations in the gamma-ray energy range of 0.4 - 20 MeV. Built on the legacy of COMPTEL instrument onboard NASA's CGRO, ASCOT uses commercially available high-performance scintillators, such as Cerium Bromide (CeBr 3 ) and p-terphenyl in conjunction with Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPM) as compact readout devices to improve the instrument response. ASCOT also makes use of the Time-of-Flight background rejection technique along with the hardware advancement, an important tool for effective imaging in this energy range. ASCOT was developed with the goal of imaging the Crab Nebula at MeV energies during a high-altitude balloon flight. The instrument was successfully launched by NASA from Palestine (TX) on 5 th July 2018. It operated stably and observed the Crab for ~5 hours from an altitude of 120,000 ft. Based on pre-flight calibrations and simulations results we expect a ~4.5 sigma detection of the Crab in the 0.2 - 2 MeV band. We present here the calibrated flight data along with preliminary results. The findings from ASCOT will demonstrate an improvement in the energy, timing, and position resolution using this advanced technology.