OMC: An Optical Monitoring Camera for INTEGRAL

The INTEGRAL payload has been designed to study simultaneously gamma-ray sources in a wide field of view over many decades in energy (around 2 eV + 4 keV − 20 MeV) and thus make a major contribution to short time-scale high-energy astrophysics. The OMC will observe the optical emission from the prime targets of the gamma-ray instruments with the support of the x-ray monitor. This capability will provide invaluable diagnostic information on the nature and the physics of the sources over a broad wavelength range. The main scientific objectives will be: (1) to monitor the optical emission from the sources observed by the gamma- and x-ray instruments, measuring the time and intensity structure …