Speaker
Description
MeV gamma-ray astronomy has given the astronomy community significant insights into the physical processes that underlie stellar nucleosynthesis, solar flares and cosmic ray propagation since the first instruments sensitive to MeV photons were developed during the 1960s. Modern space-based observatories such as the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory and INTEGRAL have yielded the first observations which are resolved both spatially and spectrally. When combined with observations of TeV gamma-rays, which can be made with much greater spatial resolution, high spectral-resolution MeV observations can give a unique opportunity to study the SED properties of objects such as blazers and pulsar wind nebulae. Australia has played an important part in many early observations of MeV gamma rays, with balloon-borne gamma-ray spectrometers flown frequently from Alice Springs. I will discuss proposed future missions which will continue the legacy of the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory and INTEGRAL, and the potential possibilities for collaboration and discovery between the MeV community and CTA, and prospects of Australian involvement in the MeV community
