Overview of the Nuclear Compton Telescope

The Nuclear Compton Telescope (NCT) is a balloon-borne telescope designed to study astrophysical sources of nuclear line emission and polarization at soft gamma-ray (0.2-10 MeV) energies. NCT uses high-purity germanium strip detectors for 3D tracking of photon interactions. Compton imaging enables effective background rejection, resulting in a compact but highly efficient instrument. The NCT prototype completed a successful flight from Fort Sumner, New Mexico in 2005. We have since integrated additional detectors, updated the readout electronics, and improved other flight systems. Two flights of the full instrument are upcoming: a conventional flight in New Mexico and a long duration flight from Australia. We give an overview of the instrument and its status prior to the planned balloon flights.