Universe  ID: 10590

Swift's 500 Gamma-ray Bursts

Released on April 19, 2010
On April 13, 2010, NASA's Swift Gamma-ray Burst Explorer satellite discovered its 500th burst. Swift's main job is to quickly localize each gamma-ray burst (GRB), report its position so that others can immediately conduct follow-up observations, and then study the burst using its X-ray and Ultraviolet/Optical telescopes. The plots and videos below illustrate Swift's first 500 GRBs.

For more on the story, see the feature "NASA's Swift Catches 500th Gamma-ray Burst".

This page has been updated with a new version of this animation highlighting Swift's detection of the most distant gamma-ray burst ever seen—13.14 billion light years.

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Video showing all 500 bursts detected by Swift. Some notable bursts are identified.

(music only, no narration)

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Among the first 500 gamma-ray bursts detected by Swift is GRB 090429B, currently the farthest explosion ever detected and a candidate for the most distant object in the universe.

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Swift

For complete transcript, click here.

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Swift video with Italian text.
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This all-sky map shows the locations of Swift's 500 gamma-ray bursts, color coded by the year in which they occurred. In the background, an infrared image shows the location of our galaxy and its largest satellites.

Credit: NASA/Swift/Francis Reddy

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All-sky plot without burst highlight labels or markers.

Credit:NASA/Swift/Francis Reddy

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This all-sky view of the infrared sky from the Two Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS) serves as the background for the Swift 500 GRB map and animation. http://www.ipac.caltech.edu/2mass/gallery/showcase/allsky/index.html.

The plane of our galaxy, the Milky Way, runs horizontally through the middle of the map. Each color represents the local density of stars seen in each of the survey's three infrared bands. Nearly 100 million stars appear in the image.

Credit: 2MASS/J. Carpenter, M. Skrutskie, R. Hurt

For More Information

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/swift/bursts/500th.html

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/swift/bursts/swift-20110527.html

Credits

Scott Wiessinger (UMBC): Animator
Francis Reddy (University of Maryland College Park): Lead Visualizer
Chris Meaney (HTSI): Animator
Scott Wiessinger (UMBC): Video Editor
Scott Wiessinger (UMBC): Producer
Francis Reddy (University of Maryland College Park): Graphics
Francis Reddy (University of Maryland College Park): Lead Science Writer
Please give credit for this page to NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center. However, each image should be credited as indicated above.

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10590

Mission:
Swift

Data Used:
Swift
view all stories where this data set is used
Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details nor the data sets themselves on our site.

This item is part of this series:
Narrated Movies

Goddard TV Tape:
G2011-073 -- Swift 500th GRB and Farthest GRB

Keywords:
SVS >> HDTV
DLESE >> Space science
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Spectral/Engineering >> Gamma Ray
SVS >> Gamma Ray Burst
SVS >> Astrophysics
SVS >> Universe
SVS >> Swift
SVS >> Gamma Ray Observatory
SVS >> Supernova
NASA Science >> Universe

GCMD keywords can be found on the Internet with the following citation: Olsen, L.M., G. Major, K. Shein, J. Scialdone, S. Ritz, T. Stevens, M. Morahan, A. Aleman, R. Vogel, S. Leicester, H. Weir, M. Meaux, S. Grebas, C.Solomon, M. Holland, T. Northcutt, R. A. Restrepo, R. Bilodeau, 2013. NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Earth Science Keywords. Version 8.0.0.0.0