The HAWC observatory

The High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) observatory is a new very high energy water Cherenkov gamma ray telescope, now under construction at 4100 m altitude at Sierra Negra, Mexico. Due to its increased altitude, larger surface area and improved design. HAWC will be about 15 times more sensitive than its predecessor, Milagro. With its wide field of view and high duty factor, HAWC will be an excellent instrument for the studies of diffuse gamma ray emission, the high energy spectra of Galactic gamma ray sources, and transient emission from extragalactic objects such as GRBs and AGN, as well as surveying a large fraction of the VHE sky. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.