Astrophysics with HESSI

In the summer of the year 2000, a NASA Small Explorer satellite, the High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (HESSI), will be launched. It will consist of nine large, coaxial germanium detectors viewing the Sun through a set of Rotation Modulation Collimators and will accomplish high-resolution imaging and spectroscopy of solar flares in the x-ray and gamma-ray bands. Here we describe some of the astrophysical observations HESSI will also perform in addition to its solar mission.