The Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Mission
With Swift, a NASA mission with international participation, scientists will now have a tool dedicated to answering these questions and solving the gamma-ray burst mystery. Its three instruments will give scientists the ability to scrutinize gamma-ray bursts like never before. Within seconds of detecting a burst, Swift will relay a burst's 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.
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Swift Resources
Latest Swift Gamma-Ray Bursts
August 12, 2009 GRB090812
August 9, 2009 GRB090809 August 7, 2009 GRB090807 + Swift Bursts from the First Four Years of Swift + Data Table of Swift Bursts + GCN Circulars Archive + GRB Skymap Latest Swift News
Details on the Swift Cycle 6 Guest Investigator Program are now available. Gamma-ray bursts are the universe's biggest explosions, capable of producing so much light that ground-based telescopes easily detect it billions of light-years away. Yet, for more than a decade, astronomers have puzzled over the nature of so-called dark bursts, which produce gamma rays and X-rays but little or no visible light. They make up roughly half of the bursts detected by NASA's Swift satellite since its 2004 launch. If you're a Swift Team or Project member looking for the Team or Project sites, try: NOTE: you will need your Team or Project username and password to access these sites. |
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