INTEGRAL JOINS THE 3RD INTERPLANETARY NETWORK

摘要

The BGO anticoincidence shield of the SPI detectors has a maximum effective area of over 5000 cm~2, and operates in the energy range >75 keV. It was incorporated into the 6- spacecraft interplanetary network shortly after launch. It detects about one confirmed burst every three days, and has detected over 125 cosmic and soft gamma repeater bursts since it started operation. It also detects numerous other bursts which are below the thresholds of the other IPN instruments and are therefore unconfirmed, but which are almost certainly cosmic. We describe the operation of the SPI-ACS and some of its unique features, and explain how the data on bursts are being utilized by the scientific community.