is used to generate novel source trajectories heretofore unattainable with prior art scanning systems as is now explained with reference to fig2 a 3c first reference is made to fig2 a 2b a source trajectory referenced to the scanned object can be viewed as located on a circular scanning strip 30 having a finite width wherein the scanning strip axis is collinear with the rotational axis 22 the trajectory can be depicted in the x u03c6 x phi or the u03b8 u03c6 theta phi planes where u03c6 is the rotational angle x is the source displacement along the rotational axis and u03b8 is the angle between the cone beam and the rotational axis the scanning strip in the x u03c6 plane is defined by all the points x u03c6 such that 0 lt x lt x max 0 lt u03c6 lt u03c6 max where x max and u03c6 max are the respective translation and rotation limits of the scanner as seen in fig2 b the scanning strip is the u201c source trajectory domain u201d the source trajectory domain defines the geometrical limitations for possible source positions relative to the object over the scanning range a circular source trajectory 32 is typically obtained by rotating the source in a plane perpendicular to the rotational axis u2014 depicted as a line parallel to the u03c6 axis in the x u03c6 plane fig2 c a helical trajectory 34 fig2 b is typically obtained by continuously translating the object during source rotation u2014 depicted as a slanted line in the x u03c6 plane fig2 d typically source radiation is pulsed and or detector values are discrete as a result a point on the source trajectory u2014 referred to as a view point u2014 represents a discrete source position from which a view is.