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LST

Exploring the High-Energy Universe

Designed to detect gamma rays in the energy range of 20 to 150 GeV, the Large-Sized Telescope (LST), a key component of the future Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO), provides critical data on transient and distant gamma-ray sources such as pulsars, black holes, and supernova remnants.

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First steps for the largest ground-based gamma-ray detection observatory in the world

The LST is one of the key components of the CTAO, the first open ground-based gamma-ray observatory and the world’s largest and most sensitive instrument for the exploration of the high-energy Universe. Four LSTs will be arranged at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory in La Palma, Spain. The LST-1 is the prototype of the LST, currently under commissioning. Each LST is a giant 23 metre diameter telescope with a mirror area of about 400 square metres and a fine pixelized camera made of 1855 light sensors capable of detecting individual photons with high efficiency.

The LST-1 has achieved significant milestones, including the detection of very-high-energy emissions from the Crab Pulsar and distant quasars, demonstrating its advanced capabilities. These findings contribute to studies of intergalactic physics and the mechanisms behind extreme astrophysical events.

The LST Collaboration comprises over 400 scientists and engineers from 12 countries, ensuring global expertise and innovation.

This artist's concept illustrates a hierarchical scheme for merging black holes. LIGO and Virgo recently observed a black hole merger with a final mass of 142 times that of the sun, making it the largest of its kind observed in gravitational waves to date. The event is thought to have occurred when two black holes of about 66 and 85 solar masses spiraled into each other and coalesced. Theoretical models indicate that nature is not likely to form black holes of this heft; in particular models identify a range of masses between 65 and 120 solar masses, called the "pair instability mass gap," in which it is thought that black holes cannot be formed by a collapsing star. So how did the two merging black holes observed by LIGO and Virgo originate? Scientists think that these black holes may have themselves formed from the earlier mergers of two smaller black holes, as indicated in the illustration. Image credit: LIGO/Caltech/MIT/R. Hurt (IPAC).

Senior institute members involved

Meet the senior researcher who lead our participation in the LST mission.

Diego F. Torres

Josep Colomé