A General Gamma‐Ray Source Catalog

Abstract

The past several years have seen unprecedentedgrowth in the field of gamma-ray astronomy. Highly successful missionssuch as the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory (CGRO) have led to botha great increase in the number of detected gamma-ray sources anda more fundamental understanding of the basic physical processesinvolved for those sources. New ground-based observatories, the RossiX-Ray Timing Explorer (RXTE), and the SIGMA instrument aboard theGRANAT spacecraft have all contributed to this explosion. Detailedobservations of active galaxies, pulsars, accreting binaries, and diffuseemission have had a tremendous impact on our view of the universe.Given that new experiments that will provide a similar increase insource numbers are several years away, it is a good time to takeinventory of the state of gamma-ray astronomy. To this end, we havedeveloped a general gamma-ray point-source catalog containing 309objects that summarize the field. Gamma-ray astronomy, as we define it,includes photon energies from 50 keV to about 1 TeV. While many catalogsconcentrate on a single type of astronomical object and/or a veryrestricted energy range, the nature of this catalog is somewhat different.The large variety of objects and the many orders of magnitude inenergy space covered by gamma-ray astronomy presents an organizationalchallenge. We focus on two main types of information: a general listing ofthe basic characteristics of each source, and detailed tables of arepresentative sample of high-energy observations. We also summarize thegamma-ray instruments whose observations are included in the catalog.