Very high energy gamma-ray sources

Abstract

A brief review of very high energy gamma-ray astronomy achievements is presented. The results of observations of the Crab nebula, the Cygnus X-3, Vela pulsar, radiogalaxy Centaurus A and 2CG 195+4 show that all these objects are the sources of very high energy gamma-quanta. The most powerfull source is Cygnus X-3. Its gamma-ray luminosity is no less than 3·10 37 erg.s −1. The upper limit of quanta energy is no less than 10 16eV. All sources are variable in different time scales, from milliseconds up to years. The nature of all these sources is not known yet, but known ones are pulsars.