The creation of the CTAO-ERIC will enable the observatory’s construction to advance rapidly and provide a framework for distributing its data worldwide, significantly accelerating its progress toward scientific discovery. On Feb. 13, 2025, the ERIC Council approved to immediately negotiate the establishment of Japan as a strategic partner and the United States, Brazil and Australia as third-party members.

“This field did not exist before 1989 when the first the gamma ray source was detected. At that point, we knew of four sources in the world,” said Dave Kieda, professor in the Department of Physics & Astronomy at the University of Utah and the CTAO spokesperson for the U.S. “The past 35 years, we went from detecting the first to now seeing several hundred. With CTAO, we’re going to see thousands. And the University of Utah is part of that legacy.”

The CTAO-ERIC was established with the international support of 11 countries and one intergovernmental organization that contributed to the technological development, construction and operation of the observatory. For Kieda, the new array will give astronomers an unprecedented view of the mysterious radiation he’s spent his career studying.

“Over the last decade, people have discovered that these high energy gamma rays are present in many, many types of very energetic astronomical phenomenon, but we don’t know much about where they come from,” Kieda said.

Read the full story by Lisa Potter in @ The U. Video above:  Animation of a gamma ray hitting Earth’s atmosphere, creating the blue Cherenkov light that flashes for a billionth of a second.