The Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO) is the world’s most powerful ground-based gamma-ray observatory. Built in collaboration with European Southern Observatory (ESO), CTAO is designed to detect the most energetic light in the universe: gamma rays. These gamma rays are released during the most violent cosmic events — exploding stars, supernovae, and extreme particle accelerators in space. Gamma rays travel across the universe at the speed of light. When they reach Earth, they collide

How a New Gamma-ray Observatory will See the High-energy Universe | ESO FriendsofNASA.org: The Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO) will be the world’s largest and most powerful gamma-ray observatory. It will detect high energy radiation from some of the most powerful events in the Universe, from supernova explosions to hungry black holes. However, our atmosphere protects us from gamma rays, so how will the CTAO achieve this? By doing something seemingly impossible: observing particles t