The Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory

The Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory

Swift satellite artists conception Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the most powerful explosions the Universe has seen since the Big Bang. They occur approximately once per day and are brief, but intense, flashes of gamma radiation. They come from all different directions of the sky and last from a few milliseconds to a few hundred seconds. So far scientists do not know what causes them. Do they signal the birth of a black hole in a massive stellar explosion? Are they the product of the collision of two neutron stars? Or is it some other exotic phenomenon that causes these bursts?

With Swift, a NASA mission with international participation, scientists have a tool dedicated to answering these questions and solving the gamma-ray burst mystery. Its three instruments give scientists the ability to scrutinize gamma-ray bursts like never before. Within seconds of detecting a burst, Swift relays its location to ground stations, allowing both ground-based and space-based telescopes around the world the opportunity to observe the burst's afterglow. Swift is part of NASA's medium explorer (MIDEX) program and was launched into a low-Earth orbit on a Delta 7320 rocket on November 20, 2004. The Principal Investigator is Dr. Brad Cenko (NASA-GSFC).

NASA's Swift Learns a New Trick, Spots a Snacking Black Hole
Using NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, which launched in 2004, scientists have discovered a black hole in a distant galaxy repeatedly nibbling on a Sun-like star. The object heralds a new era of Swift science made possible by a novel method for analyzing data from the satellite's X-ray Telescope (XRT).

» NASA Release
» Multimedia
» Nature Paper

Swift Operations Status

For a number of months the Swift team has been tracking increased noise in one of the three on-board gyroscopes. On Friday March 15, the performance of this gyroscope degraded significantly, making it difficult for the spacecraft to acquire star tracker lock and execute successful science observations. Thus the spacecraft was put into safe mode.

The Swift spacecraft was designed to accommodate the failure of one gyroscope and still meet all mission requirements. However, the on-board flight software requires a patch to allow the satellite to operate properly in two-gyroscope mode.

We are working to upload and install this patch, which we expect will return the spacecraft to full functionality, in as rapid and safe a manner as possible. Until the patch has been successfully deployed, science observations are expected to be very limited.

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Sep 7, 2023

NASA's Swift Learns a New Trick, Spots a Snacking Black Hole

Using NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, which launched in 2004, scientists have discovered a black hole in a distant galaxy repeatedly nibbling on a Sun-like star. The object heralds a new era of Swift science made possible by a novel method for analyzing data from the satellite's X-ray Telescope (XRT).
+ Read More

Mar 28, 2023

NASA Missions Study What May Be a 1-In-10,000-Year Gamma-ray Burst

On Sunday, Oct. 9, 2022, a pulse of intense radiation swept through the solar system so exceptional that astronomers quickly dubbed it the BOAT - the brightest of all time.
+ Read More

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