VTSCat: The VERITAS Catalog of Gamma-Ray Observations

TL;DR

VTSCat compiles a comprehensive catalog of gamma-ray observations from the VERITAS observatory, covering diverse astrophysical sources and providing high-level data products for the scientific community.

Contribution

This paper introduces VTSCat, a new catalog aggregating all high-level VERITAS gamma-ray data from over a decade of observations, enhancing data accessibility and analysis.

Findings

Over 100 publications summarized in the catalog

Includes data on galactic and extragalactic gamma-ray sources

Provides a valuable resource for future gamma-ray research

Abstract

The ground-based gamma-ray observatory VERITAS (Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System) is sensitive to photons of astrophysical origin with energies in the range between $\approx 85$ GeV to $\approx 30$ TeV. The instrument consists of four 12-m diameter imaging Cherenkov telescopes operating at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory (FLWO) in southern Arizona. VERITAS started four-telescope operations in 2007 and collects about 1100 hours of good-weather data per year. The VERITAS collaboration has published over 100 journal articles since 2008 reporting on gamma-ray observations of a large variety of objects: Galactic sources like supernova remnants, pulsar wind nebulae, and binary systems; extragalactic sources like star forming galaxies, dwarf-spheroidal galaxies, and highly-variable active galactic nuclei. This note presents VTSCat: the catalog of high-level data products from all VERITAS publications.