A General Gamma‐Ray Source Catalog

The past several years have seen unprecedented growth in the field of gamma-ray astronomy. Highly successful missions such as the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory ( CGRO ) have led to both a great increase in the number of detected gamma-ray sources and a more fundamental understanding of the basic physical processes involved for those sources. New ground-based observatories, the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer ( RXTE ), and the SIGMA instrument aboard the GRANAT spacecraft have all contributed to this explosion. Detailed observations of active galaxies, pulsars, accreting binaries, and diffuse emission have had a tremendous impact on our view of the universe. Given that new experiments that will provide a similar increase in source numbers are several years away, it is a good time to take inventory of the state of gamma-ray astronomy. To this end, we have developed a general gamma-ray point-source catalog containing 309 objects that summarize the field. Gamma-ray astronomy, as we define it, includes photon energies from 50 keV to about 1 TeV. While many catalogs concentrate on a single type of astronomical object and/or a very restricted energy range, the nature of this catalog is somewhat different. The large variety of objects and the many orders of magnitude in energy space covered by gamma-ray astronomy presents an organizational challenge. We focus on two main types of information: a general listing of the basic characteristics of each source, and detailed tables of a representative sample of high-energy observations. We also summarize the gamma-ray instruments whose observations are included in the catalog.