Observation of VER J2019+368 with the SST-1M stereoscopic system

TL;DR

This paper reports on the first stereoscopic observations of the gamma-ray source VER J2019+368 using the SST-1M telescopes, highlighting their potential for studying extended galactic gamma-ray sources at very high energies.

Contribution

It presents the first observational results of VER J2019+368 with SST-1M, demonstrating the telescope's capabilities for morphological and spectroscopic studies of VHE gamma-ray sources.

Findings

Preliminary morphological and spectral data of VER J2019+368.

Assessment of SST-1M's off-axis performance for extended sources.

Validation of SST-1M's suitability for detecting bright, extended gamma-ray sources.

Abstract

The Single-Mirror Small Size Telescope (SST-1M) is a small Cherenkov telescope designed to detect gamma rays with energies more than about 1 TeV. The optical design of the SST-1M follows the Davies-Cotton concept to ensure good off-axis performance. In 2022, two SST-1M telescope prototypes were installed in Ondrejov, Czech Republic, and stereoscopic observations of astrophysical gamma-ray sources have been performed since then. VER J2019+368 is an unidentified very-high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray source, surrounded by several gamma-ray point-like and diffuse sources, together with their multi-wavelength counterparts. VHE emission was discovered by MILAGRO in 2012, followed by VERITAS observation, which revealed the complex morphology of the source. Recently, the LHAASO observatory detected photons with multi-TeV energies, opening up the possibility of particle acceleration up to PeV energies. In this contribution, we present preliminary results of the first observing campaign of the VER J2019+368 region, performed with SST-1M from April to November 2024. We present the data analysis, focusing on the morphological and spectroscopic study of the region. We also present the off-axis performance of SST-1M in the context of the prospects for detecting extended galactic gamma-ray sources. As one of the brightest and hardest sources in the LHAASO catalog, VER J2019+368 is an ideal candidate for testing the capabilities of the SST-1M, with its large field of view, to detect extended gamma-ray sources.