Astrophysics

Compton Gamma Ray Observatory

Survey Observatory · Directed · Agency-led · Launched on April 5, 1991 · Completed · LCC: $617M/$2.0B (2025 $)Life-cycle cost: NASA’s reported cost to build, launch, and operate a mission through its prime mission, plus documented partner contributions, in 2025 dollars. Extended missions are not included. Methods · Wikipedia

Scope Active Mission WindowActivePapers published from the first full month after science operations begin through two years after the mission ends. Citations are counted through the third calendar year after each paper appears. For Compton, papers published May 1, 1991 to July 1, 2002. Methods LifetimeLifetimeEvery tracked publication to date, with every citation to date. For Compton, papers published from 1991 to November 3, 2026. Methods
Tracked publicationsTracked publications: peer-reviewed papers we found that name the mission or its instruments in their titles, abstracts, or keywords. Papers that used the data without naming it are missed. Methods2,769
CitationsCitations: every citation these publications have drawn to date. Older missions have had longer to collect them. Methods150,525
Citation indices
h-indexh-index: the largest h such that h papers have at least h citations each. It only grows with time, so older missions score higher. Methods170
g-indexg-index: the largest g for which the g most-cited papers together hold at least g² citations. Like the h-index, but it lets the most-cited papers count for more. Methods290
m-indexm-index: a mission’s h-index divided by the years since its first peer-reviewed paper. It falls every 1 January even when nothing else changes; the figure shown is as of November 3, 2026. It also discounts the long operating life that larger missions paid for. Methods4.7
toritori (total research impact, from SciX): for every paper citing one of the mission’s papers, 1 divided by the citing paper’s reference count times the cited paper’s author count, summed, with self-citations removed. It favors citations from papers with short reference lists and from outside the mission’s own authors. Computed over the tracked citation graph, which can be slightly incomplete. Always over every tracked publication to date, whichever scope is chosen. Methods1,120
riqriq (research impact quotient): 1,000 times the square root of tori, divided by the years since the mission’s first paper. A rate, not a total, so it does not keep growing with age the way the h-index and tori do. Like tori, always over every tracked publication to date. Methods929

Publications and citations by year (lifetime)

Publications per yearCumulative citations

Institutional contributions (lifetime)The institutions SciX lists for each paper’s authors, as printed on the paper, located through the Research Organization Registry. A square counts a paper once, however many of its authors worked there. Methods

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Tracked publications over the lifetime (2,769)

All publications CSV · JSON

  1. BATSE Observations of Gamma-Ray Burst Spectra. I. Spectral Diversity

    Band, D., 1993, ApJ

    2,377 lifetime citations

  2. Identification of Two Classes of Gamma-Ray Bursts

    Kouveliotou, Chryssa, 1993, ApJ

    2,131 lifetime citations

  3. The physics of gamma-ray bursts

    Piran, Tsvi, 2004, RvMP

    1,844 lifetime citations

  4. The Third EGRET Catalog of High-Energy Gamma-Ray Sources

    Hartman, R. C., 1999, ApJS

    1,792 lifetime citations

  5. A theory of dark matter

    Arkani-Hamed, Nima, 2009, PhRvD

    1,785 lifetime citations

  6. Gamma-ray bursts and the fireball model

    Piran, T., 1999, PhR

    1,544 lifetime citations

  7. Comptonization of Diffuse Ambient Radiation by a Relativistic Jet: The Source of Gamma Rays from Blazars?

    Sikora, Marek, 1994, ApJ

    1,368 lifetime citations

  8. The Likelihood Analysis of EGRET Data

    Mattox, J. R., 1996, ApJ

    1,205 lifetime citations

  9. Millisecond pulsars with extremely strong magnetic fields as a cosmological source of γ-ray bursts

    Usov, V. V., 1992, Natur

    1,099 lifetime citations

  10. The Spectral Energy Distribution of Fermi Bright Blazars

    Abdo, A. A., 2010, ApJ

    1,034 lifetime citations

  11. Detection of TeV photons from the active galaxy Markarian 421

    Punch, M., 1992, Natur

    829 lifetime citations

  12. Broad-band γ-ray and X-ray spectra of NGC 4151 and their implications for physical processes and geometry.

    Zdziarski, A. A., 1996, MNRAS

    807 lifetime citations

  13. Production and Propagation of Cosmic-Ray Positrons and Electrons

    Moskalenko, I. V., 1998, ApJ

    777 lifetime citations

  14. Spatial distribution of γ-ray bursts observed by BATSE

    Meegan, C. A., 1992, Natur

    761 lifetime citations

  15. EGRET Observations of the Diffuse Gamma-Ray Emission from the Galactic Plane

    Hunter, S. D., 1997, ApJ

    761 lifetime citations

  16. EGRET Observations of the Extragalactic Gamma-Ray Emission

    Sreekumar, P., 1998, ApJ

    760 lifetime citations

  17. Supernovae, Jets, and Collapsars

    MacFadyen, A. I., 2001, ApJ

    748 lifetime citations

  18. Observations of Accreting Pulsars

    Bildsten, Lars, 1997, ApJS

    733 lifetime citations

  19. Gamma-Ray Burst Formation Rate Inferred from the Spectral Peak Energy-Peak Luminosity Relation

    Yonetoku, D., 2004, ApJ

    718 lifetime citations

  20. Discovery of Intense Gamma-Ray Flashes of Atmospheric Origin

    Fishman, G. J., 1994, Sci

    678 lifetime citations

How we found these papers

We searched NASA’s Science Explorer (SciX) for peer-reviewed articles naming Compton in the title, abstract or keywords; standard filters drop articles that are not peer-reviewed and magazine pieces.

((=abs:"Compton Gamma Ray Observatory" OR =abs:"Compton Observatory" OR =abs:"Compton GRO" OR (=abs:"Gamma Ray Observatory" AND =abs:GRO) OR facility:CGRO OR =abs:"Burst and Transient Source Experiment" OR =abs:"Energetic Gamma Ray Experiment Telescope" OR =abs:"Oriented Scintillation Spectrometer Experiment" OR ((=abs:CGRO OR abs:BATSE OR =abs:EGRET OR abs:COMPTEL) AND (collection:astronomy OR =abs:"gamma ray" OR =abs:"gamma rays") NOT =abs:"Egret Member") OR (=abs:OSSE AND (=abs:"gamma ray" OR =abs:"gamma rays" OR (collection:astronomy AND abs:(Compton OR CGRO OR keV OR annihilation OR positron)))))) AND property:refereed AND doctype:article AND pubdate:[1991-05 TO 2040-01] AND NOT bibstem:("A&R" OR "ACPD" OR "AIASJ" OR "AMTD" OR "AeAm" OR "AirSp" OR "AsNow" OR "AsUAI" OR "AvWST" OR "BGD" OR "C&E" OR "C&T" OR "CAPJ" OR "CliPD" OR "E&S" OR "ENews" OR "ESDD" OR "ESSDD" OR "ESuDD" OR "GID" OR "GMDD" OR "GeCAS" OR "HESSD" OR "IrAJ" OR "JCos" OR "JRASC" OR "LAstr" OR "MNSSA" OR "Met" OR "NHESD" OR "NPGD" OR "NewSc" OR "OcScD" OR "Orion" OR "PhT" OR "PhTea" OR "PhuZ" OR "PhyOJ" OR "PhyW" OR "PlR" OR "SOILD" OR "SciAm" OR "SpFl" OR "TCD" OR "ZemVs")

Open in SciX

Removed after review (77)

  1. On the DDO Absolute Magnitudes of K Giants Stellar photometry paper; "Egret" here is an author's name, not the instrument. Decision 🤖
  2. K Giant Magnitude Calibration from Parallaxes Stellar photometry paper; "Egret" here is an author's name, not the instrument. Decision 🤖
  3. The eyes of GRO, the 'Gamma Ray Observatory' Popular magazine description of CGRO's instruments; reports no results. Decision 🤖
  4. On the Failure Mechanisms in Laminate Compression Specimens and the Measurement of Strengths Composite-materials paper whose ADS record carries the wrong abstract; not a CGRO paper. Decision 🤖
  5. Application of Reliability and Fiber Probabilistic Strength Distribution Concepts to Composite Vessel Burst Strength Design Pressure-vessel paper whose ADS record carries the wrong abstract; not a CGRO paper. Decision 🤖
  6. Possible applications of CdTe detectors to high energy astronomy. Design study of detectors for future instruments; mentions CGRO only as a current mission. Decision 🤖
  7. Concept of an All-Directional High-Energy Cosmic Gamma-Ray Telescope Concept for a different gamma-ray telescope; cites EGRET only for comparison. Decision 🤖
  8. Classical and robust H(infinity) control redesign for the Hubble Space Telescope Spacecraft control paper whose ADS record carries the wrong abstract; not a CGRO paper. Decision 🤖
  9. INTEGRAL: The next major space mission in gamma-ray astrophysics Overview of the planned INTEGRAL mission; mentions CGRO only as a predecessor. Decision 🤖
  10. An overview about initial results from the Compton Observatory GRO Duplicate record of 1993NuPhS..33..113S (same paper). Decision 🤖
  11. An overview about initial results from the Compton Observatory GRO Duplicate record of 1993NuPhS..33..113S (same paper). Decision 🤖
  12. A New Telescope for Wide-Band Gamma-Ray Astronomy: The Silicon Compton Recoil Telescope (SCRT) Describes a prototype gamma-ray telescope; cites CGRO only for comparison. Decision 🤖
  13. Gamma Large Area Silicon Telescope (GLAST) applying silicon strip detector technology to the detection of gamma rays in space Detector design proposal for GLAST; mentions EGRET only as a predecessor. Decision 🤖
  14. Gamma Large Area Silicon Telescope (GLAST) applying silicon strip detector technology to the detection of gamma rays in space Duplicate record of 1994NIMPA.342..302A (same paper). Decision 🤖
  15. Gamma ray astronomy Journal issue record listing topics; its papers are indexed separately. Decision 🤖
  16. Pulsars at 1 MeV: the Crab and PSR 1509-58. Duplicate record of 1995AdSpR..15e..65C (same paper). Decision 🤖
  17. Determination of the Galactic 26Al Source Distribution with a Novel Imaging Telescope Describes a proposed imaging telescope; mentions COMPTEL only as prior work. Decision 🤖
  18. A wide aperture telescope for high energy gamma rays detection Simulated design of a different gamma-ray telescope; cites EGRET only for comparison. Decision 🤖
  19. Books-Received - the Gamma-Ray Sky with Compton GRO and Sigma Book-received notice; not a research paper. Decision 🤖
  20. The high energy X-ray timing experiment on XTE. Instrument description of an RXTE instrument; cites CGRO detectors only for comparison. Decision 🤖
  21. A keener eye than EGRET News item; not a research paper. Decision 🤖
  22. AGATE: A High Energy Gamma-Ray Telescope Using Drift Chambers Development of a proposed EGRET successor telescope; reports no CGRO results. Decision 🤖
  23. Sensitivity of γ-ray detectors to polarization Detector simulation for a future mission; mentions EGRET only for comparison. Decision 🤖
  24. Superluminal blazars and the extragalactic gamma ray background. Duplicate record of 1997JPhG...23..857C (same paper). Decision 🤖
  25. Nuclear reaction rates governing the nucleosynthesis of ⁴⁴Ti. Duplicate record of 1997NuPhA.621..319J (same paper). Decision 🤖
  26. A test of B-type star Hβ photometric distances via the HIPPARCOS parallaxes Stellar distance paper; "Egret" here is an author's name, not the instrument. Decision 🤖
  27. Characteristics of gamma-ray bursts at MeV energies measured by COMPTEL Duplicate record of 1998AdSpR..22.1097K (same paper). Decision 🤖
  28. Compton scatter imaging in astrophysics. Design requirements for a future Compton telescope; mentions COMPTEL only as a predecessor. Decision 🤖
  29. GLAST: The Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope Development of the GLAST mission; mentions EGRET only as a predecessor. Decision 🤖
  30. Observed properties of gamma-ray bursts. Duplicate record of 1999A&AS..138..395F (same paper). Decision 🤖
  31. New generation atmospheric Cherenkov detectors Survey of ground-based Cherenkov telescope designs; mentions CGRO only as context. Decision 🤖
  32. GLAST: the next-generation high energy gamma-ray astronomy mission Overview of the planned GLAST mission; cites CGRO only for comparison. Decision 🤖
  33. Salient mechanical and optical design features of 25m-diameter light-collector of MACE imaging Gamma-Ray Telescope Design of the proposed MACE ground telescope; mentions EGRET only as motivation. Decision 🤖
  34. Simulating the Glast satellite with Gismo Simulation software for the GLAST mission; mentions CGRO only as a predecessor. Decision 🤖
  35. The space gamma-ray observatory AGILE Overview of the AGILE mission; mentions EGRET only as a predecessor. Decision 🤖
  36. 5@5 - a 5 GeV energy threshold array of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes at 5 km altitude Concept for a proposed ground-based telescope array; mentions EGRET sources only as targets. Decision 🤖
  37. Non-imaging Gamma Ray Telescopes Review of a ground-based telescope technique; mentions EGRET only as motivation. Decision 🤖
  38. Salient mechanical design features of the proposed 17 meter diameter MACE imaging gamma-ray telescope Design of the proposed MACE ground telescope; mentions EGRET only as motivation. Decision 🤖
  39. Gamma-ray imaging by silicon detectors in space: the AREM method Reconstruction method for the AGILE tracker; cites EGRET only for comparison. Decision 🤖
  40. The MEGA advanced Compton telescope project Design of the proposed MEGA telescope; cites COMPTEL only for comparison. Decision 🤖
  41. Cipher, A Polarimeter Telescope Concept for Hard X-Ray Astronomy Concept for a hard X-ray polarimeter; mentions COMPTEL only for comparison. Decision 🤖
  42. An Overview of the Performance of the Chandra X-ray Observatory Performance overview of Chandra; mentions CGRO only as a fellow observatory. Decision 🤖
  43. Development of the TIGRE compton telescope for intermediate-energy gamma-ray astronomy Development of a balloon Compton telescope; cites CGRO only for comparison. Decision 🤖
  44. MIRAX: a Brazilian X-ray astronomy satellite mission Proposal for the Brazilian MIRAX mission; cites BATSE only for comparison. Decision 🤖
  45. The Swift GRB MIDEX mission Overview of the Swift mission; cites BATSE only for comparison. Decision 🤖
  46. Perspectives on MeV astronomy instrumentation Perspective on future MeV instruments; cites CGRO only for comparison. Decision 🤖
  47. Astrophysics challenges of MeV-astronomy instrumentation Requirements for a future Compton telescope; cites COMPTEL only for comparison. Decision 🤖
  48. Calibration and in-flight performance of the Compton telescope prototype LXeGRIT Calibration of the LXeGRIT balloon telescope; cites COMPTEL only for comparison. Decision 🤖
  49. The MEGA project Development of the proposed MEGA telescope; mentions COMPTEL and EGRET only as predecessors. Decision 🤖
  50. The Swift γ-ray burst mission Overview of the Swift mission; cites BATSE only for comparison. Decision 🤖