Upgrades to the fifth telescope of the TAIGA Gamma Observatory
Ten mirrors were successfully installed on the fifth Cherenkov telescope of the TAIGA complex in Summer 2026. The reverse side of the mirror dish features an electronics box – the telescope's "brain" – which houses the power supply controllers, data acquisition, thermal stabilization, and switching systems. The multi-turn limit switch has also been installed, which will allow the telescope to rotate three full turns along one of its axes.
The fifth upgraded telescope will be put into pilot operation during the 2026–2027 season to test the mechanical components and identify potential defects for their elimination in the summer of 2027. This will allow the telescope to be fully commissioned for the 2027–2028 season to collect data jointly with the telescopes already in operation.
The TAIGA international project (Tunka Advanced Instrument for cosmic rays and Gamma Astronomy) is designed to study the high-energy part of the spectrum of cosmic gamma-ray sources. Scientists from the JINR Laboratory of Nuclear Problems take an active part in it. The experiment is located near the southern tip of Lake Baikal at the astrophysical site in the Tunka Valley (Republic of Buryatia) and consists of several facilities that measure the parameters of extensive air showers resulting from the interaction of cosmic rays and high-energy gamma rays with the atmosphere.
Photo by Andrei Shaikovsky
