The Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory

News - 2022

Dec 7, 2022

NASA Missions Probe Game-Changing Cosmic Explosion

On Dec. 11, 2021, NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory and Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope detected a blast of high-energy light from the outskirts of a galaxy around 1 billion light-years away. The event has rattled scientists' understanding of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), the most powerful events in the universe.
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Oct 13, 2022

NASA's Swift, Fermi Missions Detect Exceptional Cosmic Blast

Astronomers around the world are captivated by an unusually bright and long-lasting pulse of high-energy radiation that swept over Earth Sunday, Oct. 9. The emission came from a gamma-ray burst (GRB) - the most powerful class of explosions in the universe - that ranks among the most luminous events known.
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May 05, 2022

NASA's Swift Tracks Potential Magnetic Flip of Monster Black Hole

A rare and enigmatic outburst from a galaxy 236 million light-years away may have been sparked by a magnetic reversal, a spontaneous flip of the magnetic field surrounding its central black hole.
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Feb 18, 2022

NASA's Swift Observatory Returns to Science

NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory successfully returned to science operations Thursday, Feb. 17. The spacecraft and its three instruments are healthy and operating as expected.
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Feb 15, 2022

Swift Cycle 18 Results

Swift Cycle 18 Recommended Targets and Proposals have been posted.

Feb 04, 2022

Preparations Underway to Return Swift to Science Operations

NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory operations team has confirmed that a failed reaction wheel caused the spacecraft to enter safe mode Jan. 18. The team believes the issue is mechanical and is moving to configure the spacecraft to operate using the other five reaction wheels, which are performing as expected.
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Jan 19, 2022

NASA's Swift Observatory in Safe Mode, Team Investigating Reaction Wheel

On the evening of Tuesday, Jan. 18, NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory entered into safe mode, suspending pointed science observations. The mission team is investigating a possible failure of one of the spacecraft's reaction wheels as the cause.
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