Observation of M87 with VERITAS

Abstract

The giant radio galaxy M87 is the only extragalactic non-blazar object which has been detected as a source of very high energy gamma-rays. It represents a unique opportunity to study the phenomena of gamma-ray emission from a nearby AGN. In this paper we report preliminary results from the observations of M87 taken with the imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope array VERITAS in February, March and April 2007. An excess of photons above an energy threshold of 250 GeV is measured with a sta tistical significance of more than five standard deviations.