INTEGRAL - a status report

TL;DR

INTEGRAL, a gamma-ray observatory launched in 2002, continues to deliver significant discoveries in high-energy astrophysics, maintaining healthy operations and expanding scientific knowledge beyond its original design lifetime.

Contribution

Provides an updated status report on INTEGRAL's ongoing scientific achievements and operational health after over a decade of mission activity.

Findings

Discoveries in compact high-energy Galactic objects

Detection of nuclear gamma-ray line emission

Insights into cosmic background radiation

Abstract

The ESA gamma-ray observatory INTEGRAL, launched on 17 October 2002, continues to produce a wealth of discoveries and new results on compact high energy Galactic objects, nuclear gamma-ray line emission, diffuse line and continuum emission, cosmic background radiation, AGN, high energy transients and sky surveys. The observing programme, fully open to the scientific community at large, is built from the community's feedback to the Announcements of Opportunity, issued about once per year. The mission's technical status is healthy and INTEGRAL is continuing its scientific operations well beyond its 5-year technical design lifetime. This paper will briefly summarize the overall current status.