The Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory

News from 2008

September 29, 2008 - A Day in the Life of Swift Scientists
a film by Brady Haran for the East Midlands STEM Partnership.
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September 19, 2008 - Swift Catches Farthest Gamma-Ray Burst
Swift has found the most distant gamma-ray burst ever detected.
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September 10, 2008 - "Naked-Eye" Gamma-Ray Burst Was Aimed Squarely At Earth
Data from satellites and observatories around the globe show a jet from a powerful stellar explosion witnessed March 19 was aimed almost directly at Earth.
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July 8, 2008 - Swift Newsletter - Issue 9
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July 1, 2008 - New Release of the Swift Software and Calibration Data
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May 21, 2008 - Swift Catches First Supernova in the Act of Exploding
Using Swift, astronomers for the first time have caught a star in the act of exploding.
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May 19, 2008 - Swift Sees Monster Flare from Nearby Star
On April 25, NASA's Swift satellite picked up the brightest flare ever seen from a normal star other than our Sun.
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May 2, 2008 - Swift's Neil Gehrels Elected Fellow of AAAS
Swift PI Neil Gehrels has been elected as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.
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March 20, 2008 - Swift Detects "Naked-Eye" Gamma Ray Burst
A gamma ray burst detected by Swift on March 19 has shattered the record for the most distant object that could be seen with the naked eye.
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March 5, 2008 - Swift Cycle 4 Results Announced
The list of accepted proposals for Swift Cycle 4 is now available on the Web!
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February 26, 2008 - Swift Images a Galaxy Ablaze with Starbirth
Combining 13 individual frames taken over 11 hours of exposure time, NASA astronomers have created this ultraviolet mosaic of the nearby "Triangulum Galaxy." "This is the most detailed ultraviolet image of an entire galaxy ever taken," says Stefan Immler of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
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January 9, 2008 - Swift and Gemini Probe Mysterious Distant Explosion
Using the powerful one-two combo of NASA's Swift satellite and the Gemini Observatory, astronomers have detected a mysterious type of cosmic explosion farther back in time than ever before. The explosion, known as a short gamma-ray burst (GRB), took place 7.4 billion years ago, more than halfway back to the Big Bang.
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