COMPTEL data analysis using GammaLib and ctools

Vol. 665
15. Numerical methods and codes

COMPTEL data analysis using GammaLib and ctools

Astrophysics is focused on gathering new and better data. However, archival data are always a mine for unexplored discoveries or comparisons with current data. Archival data represent our memory. Along these lines, the effort by Knödlseder and collaborators is laudable: the data from the COMPTEL instrument (0.75–30 MeV), which flew more than 20 years ago on NASA’s Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory mission, could before now only be analyzed with proprietary software. Using open-source (Python-based) software for gamma-ray astronomy, they bring these data back to life. The reborn data will be very useful for the recently approved NASA small mission Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI), which will operate in the 0.2-5 MeV energy range.