NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

European Satellites Probe a New Magnetar

SGR 0501+4516, illustrated here in an artist concept, is a member of a select class of objects called magnetars. These stellar remnants are the most magnetized objects in the cosmos. Only 15 are known. Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab On Aug. 22, 2008, NASA's Swift satellite reported multiple blasts of radiation from a rare object known as a soft gamma repeater, or SGR. Now, astronomers report an in-depth study of these eruptions using the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton and International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (INTEGRAL) satellites.

The object, designated SGR 0501+4516, was the first of its type discovered in a decade and is only the fifth confirmed SGR. "Some sources are extremely active, but others can be quiet for a decade or more," said Nanda Rea, University of Amsterdam, who led the study. "This suggests many members of this class remain unknown."

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Mission Update:

For mission updates visit the Swift Mission Director's Status Report Log.

Swift is a first-of-its-kind multi-wavelength observatory dedicated to the study of gamma-ray burst (GRB) science. Its three instruments will work together to observe GRBs and afterglows in the gamma ray, X-ray, ultraviolet, and optical wavebands. The main mission objectives for Swift are to:

• Determine the origin of gamma-ray bursts
• Classify gamma-ray bursts and search for new types
• Determine how the blastwave evolves and interacts with the surroundings
• Use gamma-ray bursts to study the early universe
• Perform the first sensitive hard X-ray survey of the sky