CTAO Performance
The CTA Observatory (CTAO) will provide very wide energy range and excellent angular resolution and sensitivity in comparison to any existing gamma-ray detector. Energies down to 20 GeV will allow CTAO to study the most distant objects. Energies up to 300 TeV will push CTAO beyond the edge of the known electromagnetic spectrum, providing a completely new view of the sky. Here is how CTAO’s energy range will compare to some of the existing astronomical instruments:

Comparison of CTAO’s Energy Range to other Instruments
The plots on this page represent the preliminary performance expected from CTAO during its first construction phase with the approved “Alpha Configuration,” as obtained from detailed Monte Carlo (MC) simulations of the facility.
The “Alpha Configuration” for the southern and northern arrays of the CTA Observatory, located at the Paranal Observatory (Chile) and Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (Spain) respectively, consists of:
- CTAO Northern Array: 4 Large-Sized Telescopes and 9 Medium-Sized Telescopes (area covered by the array of telescopes: ~0.25 km2)
- CTAO Southern Array: 14 Medium-Sized Telescopes and 37 Small-Sized Telescopes (area covered by the array of telescopes: ~3 km2)