New developments for high-energy astrophysics

Unlike nearly all branches of physics, founded on the elaboration and analysis of experiments, astronomy is, above all, a science of observation, based mainly on the detection and study of the electromagnetic radiation emitted by celestial bodies. If one excepts devices operating in the radio bands, nearly all instruments used in astrophysics are based on the detection of photons. This review intends to highlight recent developments in high-energy astronomy and astrophysics studies from ground and space observations (from the X-ray band up to high-energy gamma-rays and neutrinos). Particular attention will be given not only to recent technologies of photodetection now at work in the field of high-energy astronomy and to emerging photodetection studies in progress for future missions, but also to advanced imaging techniques used in the high-energy domain, which beyond any doubt, constitutes the most arduous of new astronomical disciplines. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.