{ "id": 40210, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/swift-gammaray-bursts/", "page_type": "Gallery", "title": "Swift: Gamma-ray Bursts", "description": "No description available.", "release_date": "2014-11-13T00:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2025-01-21T00:00:00-05:00", "main_image": { "id": 858861, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/gallery/Swift--Main/Swift-GRB.jpg", "filename": "Swift-GRB.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "", "width": 180, "height": 320, "pixels": 57600 }, "media_groups": [ { "id": 370841, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/swift-gammaray-bursts/#media_group_370841", "widget": "Tile gallery", "title": "Visuals", "caption": "", "description": "", "items": [ { "id": 446956, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 14738, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14738/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "What Are Gamma-ray Bursts?", "description": "Watch to learn more about gamma-ray bursts, the most powerful explosions in the cosmos. They first came to the attention of astronomers in the 1970s when new satellites detected this surprising phenomenon. Over decades, scientists have found that these blasts could be detected somewhere in the sky almost every day, and that they were both extremely distant — the closest known is over 100 million light-years away — and enormously powerful. Gamma-ray bursts are now linked to the explosive deaths of massive stars and to mergers of compact objects, like neutron stars and black holes, but many puzzles remain. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight CenterMusic: “Time Science,” Steve Fawcett [ASCAP] and Katherine F Martin [BMI], Universal Production Music Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available. || YTframe_ASD_GRB.jpg (1280x720) [221.2 KB] || YTframe_ASD_GRB_searchweb.png (320x180) [81.7 KB] || YTframe_ASD_GRB_thm.png (80x40) [9.6 KB] || 14738_GRBexplainer_Small.mp4 (1920x1080) [117.7 MB] || 14738_GRBexplainer_Best.mp4 (1920x1080) [526.7 MB] || 14738GRBexplainerCaptions.en_US.srt [4.4 KB] || 14738GRBexplainerCaptions.en_US.vtt [4.2 KB] || 14738_GRBexplainer_ProRes_1920x1080_2997.mov (1920x1080) [2.9 GB] || ", "release_date": "2024-12-20T10:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2024-12-18T10:07:57.476435-05:00", "main_image": { "id": 1140120, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014700/a014738/YTframe_ASD_GRB.jpg", "filename": "YTframe_ASD_GRB.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Watch to learn more about gamma-ray bursts, the most powerful explosions in the cosmos. They first came to the attention of astronomers in the 1970s when new satellites detected this surprising phenomenon. Over decades, scientists have found that these blasts could be detected somewhere in the sky almost every day, and that they were both extremely distant — the closest known is over 100 million light-years away — and enormously powerful. Gamma-ray bursts are now linked to the explosive deaths of massive stars and to mergers of compact objects, like neutron stars and black holes, but many puzzles remain. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight CenterMusic: “Time Science,” Steve Fawcett [ASCAP] and Katherine F Martin [BMI], Universal Production Music Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available.", "width": 1280, "height": 720, "pixels": 921600 } } }, { "id": 406969, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 20378, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/20378/", "page_type": "Animation", "title": "Long Gamma-Ray Burst", "description": "Complete animation sequence.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab || GRB_Sequence_Still.jpg (3840x2160) [1.6 MB] || 20378_GRB_Sequence_1080.mp4 (1920x1080) [41.7 MB] || 20378_GRB_Sequence_4k.mp4 (3840x2160) [109.7 MB] || 20378_GRB_Sequence_ProRes_3840x2160_30.mov (3840x2160) [1.4 GB] || ", "release_date": "2023-09-19T18:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2025-01-09T15:53:45.614396-05:00", "main_image": { "id": 855549, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a020000/a020300/a020378/GRB_afterglow_4k_30fps_proRes.00150_print.jpg", "filename": "GRB_afterglow_4k_30fps_proRes.00150_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Distant shot revealing both particle jets interacting with circumstellar dust and gas.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } } }, { "id": 406970, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 14317, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14317/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "NASA Missions Probe What May Be a 1-In-10,000-Year Gamma-ray Burst", "description": "The Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3 revealed the infrared afterglow (circled) of the BOAT GRB and its host galaxy, seen nearly edge-on as a sliver of light extending to the burst's upper left. This animation flips between images taken on Nov. 8 and Dec. 4, 2022, one and two months after the eruption. Given its brightness, the burst’s afterglow may remain detectable by telescopes for several years. Each picture combines three near-infrared images taken at wavelengths from 1 to 1.5 microns and is 34 arcseconds across. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, A. Levan (Radboud University); Image Processing: Gladys Kober || GRB_WFC3IR1108+1204_circled.gif (512x512) [3.5 MB] || ", "release_date": "2023-03-28T13:50:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T11:43:38.257753-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 842157, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014300/a014317/GRB_all_rings_XMM_2160_searchweb.png", "filename": "GRB_all_rings_XMM_2160_searchweb.png", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "XMM-Newton images recorded 20 dust rings, 19 of which are shown here in arbitrary colors. This composite merges observations made two and five days after GRB 221009A erupted. Dark stripes indicate gaps between the detectors. A detailed analysis shows that the widest ring visible here, comparable to the apparent size of a full moon, came from dust clouds located about 1,300 light-years away. The innermost ring arose from dust at a distance of 61,000 light-years on the other side of our galaxy. GRB221009A is only the seventh gamma-ray burst to display X-ray rings, and it triples the number previously seen around one.Credit: ESA/XMM-Newton/M. Rigoselli (INAF)", "width": 320, "height": 180, "pixels": 57600 } } }, { "id": 406971, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 14255, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14255/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "NASA’s Fermi, Swift Capture Revolutionary Gamma-Ray Burst", "description": "Watch to learn how an event called GRB 211211A rocked scientists’s understanding of gamma-ray bursts – the most powerful explosions in the cosmos.Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight CenterMusic Credits: \"Finished Plate\" by Airglo and \"Binary Fission\" by Tom KaneWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel. || Title_Card_Revolutionary_GRB.jpg (1920x1080) [1.5 MB] || Title_Card_Revolutionary_GRB_searchweb.png (320x180) [100.7 KB] || Title_Card_Revolutionary_GRB_thm.png (80x40) [7.3 KB] || NASA’s_Fermi,_Swift_Capture_Revolutionary_Gamma-Ray_Burst.mp4 (1920x1080) [171.9 MB] || NASA’s_Fermi,_Swift_Capture_Revolutionary_Gamma-Ray_Burst_ProRes.mov (1920x1080) [2.2 GB] || NASA’s_Fermi,_Swift_Capture_Revolutionary_Gamma-Ray_Burst.webm (1920x1080) [18.4 MB] || Long_GRB_Captions.en_US.srt [2.8 KB] || Long_GRB_Captions.en_US.vtt [2.8 KB] || ", "release_date": "2022-12-07T11:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2023-09-06T10:29:03.505580-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 367935, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014200/a014255/Title_Card_Revolutionary_GRB.jpg", "filename": "Title_Card_Revolutionary_GRB.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Watch to learn how an event called GRB 211211A rocked scientists’s understanding of gamma-ray bursts – the most powerful explosions in the cosmos.Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight CenterMusic Credits: \"Finished Plate\" by Airglo and \"Binary Fission\" by Tom KaneWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 } } }, { "id": 406972, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 13792, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13792/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "NASA Missions Unveil Magnetar Eruptions in Nearby Galaxies", "description": "On April 15, 2020, a wave of X-rays and gamma rays lasting only a fraction of a second triggered detectors on NASA and European spacecraft. The event was a giant flare from a magnetar, a type of city-sized stellar remnant that boasts the strongest magnetic fields known. Watch to learn more.Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight CenterMusic: \"Collision Course-Alternative Version\" from Universal Production MusicWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available. || MGF_Video_Still.jpg (1920x1080) [602.3 KB] || MGF_Video_Still_print.jpg (1024x576) [264.7 KB] || MGF_Video_Still_searchweb.png (320x180) [74.9 KB] || MGF_Video_Still_thm.png (80x40) [5.7 KB] || 13792_Magnetar_Giant_Flare_ProRes_1920x1080_2997.mov (1920x1080) [2.6 GB] || 13792_Magnetar_Giant_Flare_best_1080.mp4 (1920x1080) [498.6 MB] || 13792_Magnetar_Giant_Flare_good_1080.mp4 (1920x1080) [221.6 MB] || 13792_Magnetar_Giant_Flare_best_1080.webm (1920x1080) [24.0 MB] || 13792_Magnetar_Giant_Flare_SRT_Captions.en_US.srt [4.0 KB] || 13792_Magnetar_Giant_Flare_SRT_Captions.en_US.vtt [4.0 KB] || ", "release_date": "2021-01-13T12:15:00-05:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:44:23.377934-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 380458, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a013700/a013792/MGF_Video_Still.jpg", "filename": "MGF_Video_Still.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "On April 15, 2020, a wave of X-rays and gamma rays lasting only a fraction of a second triggered detectors on NASA and European spacecraft. The event was a giant flare from a magnetar, a type of city-sized stellar remnant that boasts the strongest magnetic fields known. Watch to learn more.Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight CenterMusic: \"Collision Course-Alternative Version\" from Universal Production MusicWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available.", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 } } }, { "id": 406973, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 13427, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13427/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "A New Era in Gamma-ray Science", "description": "On Jan. 14, 2019, the Major Atmospheric Gamma Imaging Cherenkov (MAGIC) observatory in the Canary Islands captured the highest-energy light every recorded from a gamma-ray burst. MAGIC began observing the fading burst just 50 seconds after it was detected thanks to positions provided by NASA's Fermi and Swift spacecraft (top left and right, respectively, in this illustration). The gamma rays packed energy up to 10 times greater than previously seen. Credit: NASA/Fermi and Aurore Simonnet, Sonoma State University || GRB190114CbASimonnet.jpg (2475x3300) [4.5 MB] || GRB190114CbASimonnet_searchweb.png (320x180) [106.4 KB] || GRB190114CbASimonnet_thm.png (80x40) [6.6 KB] || ", "release_date": "2019-11-20T13:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:45:30.338525-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 391024, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a013400/a013427/GRB190114CbASimonnet_searchweb.png", "filename": "GRB190114CbASimonnet_searchweb.png", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "On Jan. 14, 2019, the Major Atmospheric Gamma Imaging Cherenkov (MAGIC) observatory in the Canary Islands captured the highest-energy light every recorded from a gamma-ray burst. MAGIC began observing the fading burst just 50 seconds after it was detected thanks to positions provided by NASA's Fermi and Swift spacecraft (top left and right, respectively, in this illustration). The gamma rays packed energy up to 10 times greater than previously seen. \r\rCredit: NASA/Fermi and Aurore Simonnet, Sonoma State University\r", "width": 320, "height": 180, "pixels": 57600 } } }, { "id": 406974, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 10171, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10171/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Swift: A Decade of Game-Changing Astrophysics", "description": "Scientists participating in NASA's Swift mission discuss the spacecraft, the science, and recall their personal experiences as members of the team.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.For complete transcript, click here. || Swift_Interview_Still_print.jpg (1024x576) [160.8 KB] || Swift_Interview_Still.png (2560x1440) [4.1 MB] || Swift_Interview_Still_web.jpg (180x320) [21.2 KB] || Swift_Interview_Still_thm.png (80x40) [9.1 KB] || Swift_Interview_Still_web.png (320x180) [95.3 KB] || Swift_Interview_Still_searchweb.png (180x320) [95.3 KB] || Swift_10_Interviews_MPEG4_1280X720_2997.mp4 (1280x720) [149.1 MB] || G2014-067_Swift_10_Interviews_FINAL_appletv.webmhd.webm (960x540) [98.0 MB] || G2014-067_Swift_10_Interviews_FINAL_appletv.m4v (960x540) [257.7 MB] || G2014-067_Swift_10_Interviews_FINAL_appletv_subtitles.m4v (960x540) [257.5 MB] || G2014-067_Swift_10_Interviews_FINAL_1280x720.wmv (1280x720) [292.3 MB] || Swift_10_Interviews_H264_Good_1280x720_2997.mov (1280x720) [551.2 MB] || Swift_10_Interviews_H264_640x360_2997_iPhone.m4v (640x360) [94.6 MB] || G2014-067_Swift_10_Interviews.en_US.srt [11.7 KB] || G2014-067_Swift_10_Interviews.en_US.vtt [11.7 KB] || G2014-067_Swift_10_Interviews_FINAL_ipod_lg.m4v (640x360) [102.9 MB] || G2014-067_Swift_10_Interviews_FINAL_ipod_sm.mp4 (320x240) [51.9 MB] || Swift_10_Interviews_H264_Best_1280x720_5994.mov (1280x720) [3.9 GB] || Swift_10_Interviews_ProRes_1280x720_5994.mov (1280x720) [8.7 GB] || ", "release_date": "2014-11-20T14:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:50:18.213359-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 449431, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010100/a010171/Swift_Interview_Still_print.jpg", "filename": "Swift_Interview_Still_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Scientists participating in NASA's Swift mission discuss the spacecraft, the science, and recall their personal experiences as members of the team.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.For complete transcript, click here.", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } } }, { "id": 406975, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 12740, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12740/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Doomed Neutron Stars Create Blast of Light and Gravitational Waves", "description": "This animation captures phenomena observed over the course of nine days following the neutron star merger known as GW170817, detected on Aug. 17, 2017. They include gravitational waves (pale arcs), a near-light-speed jet that produced gamma rays (magenta), expanding debris from a kilonova that produced ultraviolet (violet), optical and infrared (blue-white to red) emission, and, once the jet directed toward us expanded into our view from Earth, X-rays (blue). Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/CI LabMusic: \"Exploding Skies\" from Killer TracksWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available. || Neutron_Star_Merger_Still_2_new_1080.png (1920x1080) [2.5 MB] || Neutron_Star_Merger_Still_2_new_1080.jpg (1920x1080) [167.3 KB] || Neutron_Star_Merger_Still_2_new_print.jpg (1024x576) [50.4 KB] || Neutron_Star_Merger_Still_2_new.png (3840x2160) [7.7 MB] || Neutron_Star_Merger_Still_2_new.jpg (3840x2160) [1.0 MB] || Neutron_Star_Merger_Still_2_new_thm.png (80x40) [4.4 KB] || Neutron_Star_Merger_Still_2_new_searchweb.png (320x180) [51.4 KB] || 12740_NS_Merger_Update_1080.m4v (1920x1080) [50.3 MB] || 12740_NS_Merger_Update_H264_1080.mp4 (1920x1080) [96.9 MB] || 12740_NS_Merger_Update_1080p.mov (1920x1080) [101.9 MB] || NS_Merger_SRT_Captions.en_US.srt [417 bytes] || NS_Merger_SRT_Captions.en_US.vtt [399 bytes] || 12740_NS_Merger_4k_Update.webm (3840x2160) [10.0 MB] || 12740_NS_Merger_4k_Update_H264.mp4 (3840x2160) [254.9 MB] || 12740_NS_Merger_4k_Update_H264.mov (3840x2160) [516.7 MB] || 12740_NS_Merger_4k_Update_ProRes_3840x2160_5994.mov (3840x2160) [5.1 GB] || 12740_NS_Merger_4k_Update_H264.hwshow [90 bytes] || ", "release_date": "2017-10-16T10:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2025-06-23T00:17:47.900998-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 410279, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a012700/a012740/Neutron_Star_Merger_Still_2_new_1080.jpg", "filename": "Neutron_Star_Merger_Still_2_new_1080.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "This animation captures phenomena observed over the course of nine days following the neutron star merger known as GW170817, detected on Aug. 17, 2017. They include gravitational waves (pale arcs), a near-light-speed jet that produced gamma rays (magenta), expanding debris from a kilonova that produced ultraviolet (violet), optical and infrared (blue-white to red) emission, and, once the jet directed toward us expanded into our view from Earth, X-rays (blue). Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/CI LabMusic: \"Exploding Skies\" from Killer TracksWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available.", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 } } }, { "id": 406976, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 11407, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11407/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Briefing Materials: NASA Missions Explore Record-Setting Cosmic Blast", "description": "On Thursday, Nov. 21, 2013, NASA held a media teleconference to discuss new findings related to a brilliant gamma-ray burst detected on April 27. Audio of the teleconference is available for download here.Related feature story: www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/nasa-sees-watershed-cosmic-blast-in-unique-detail/.Audio of Sylvia Zhu interview for a Science Podcast. Briefing Speakers Introduction: Paul Hertz, NASA Astrophysics Division Director, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.Charles Dermer, astrophysicist, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, D.C.Thomas Vestrand, astrophysicist, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, N.M.Chryssa Kouveliotou, astrophysicist, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. Presenter 1: Charles Dermer || ", "release_date": "2013-11-21T14:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:51:26.416266-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 460887, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a011400/a011407/Nebula-Jet_Still_1.jpg", "filename": "Nebula-Jet_Still_1.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Gamma-ray bursts are the most luminous explosions in the cosmos. Astronomers think most occur when the core of a massive star runs out of nuclear fuel, collapses under its own weight, and forms a black hole. The black hole then drives jets of particles that drill all the way through the collapsing star at nearly the speed of light. Artist's rendering.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center ", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 } } }, { "id": 406977, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 10590, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10590/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Swift's 500 Gamma-ray Bursts", "description": "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. || ", "release_date": "2010-04-19T11:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2025-01-06T01:14:36.200706-05:00", "main_image": { "id": 493521, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010500/a010590/Swift_500_final_test.jpg", "filename": "Swift_500_final_test.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Video showing all 500 bursts detected by Swift. Some notable bursts are identified.(music only, no narration)", "width": 1280, "height": 720, "pixels": 921600 } } }, { "id": 406978, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 10808, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10808/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "The Dual Personality of the 'Christmas Burst'", "description": "The Christmas burst, also known as GRB 101225A, was discovered in the constellation Andromeda by Swift's Burst Alert Telescope at 1:38 p.m. EST on Dec. 25, 2010. Two very different scenarios successfully reproduce features of this peculiar cosmic explosion. It was either caused by novel type of supernova located billions of light-years away or an unusual collision much closer to home, within our own galaxy. Common to both scenarios is the presence of a neutron star, the crushed core that forms when a star many times the sun's mass explodes. According to one science team, the burst occurred in an exotic binary system where a neutron star orbited a normal star that had just entered its red giant phase. The outer atmosphere of the giant expanded so much that it engulfed the neutron star, which resulted in both the ejection of the giant's atmosphere and rapid tightening of the neutron star's orbit. Once the two stars became wrapped in a common envelope of gas, the neutron star may have merged with the giant's core after just five orbits, or about 18 months. The end result of the merger was the birth of a black hole and the production of oppositely directed jets of particles moving at nearly the speed of light, which made the gamma rays, followed by a weak supernova. Based on this interpretation, the event took place about 5.5 billion light-years away, and the team has detected what may be a faint galaxy at the right location.Another team supports an alternative model that involves the tidal disruption of a large comet-like object and the ensuing crash of debris onto a neutron star located only about 10,000 light-years away. Gamma-ray emission occurred when debris fell onto the neutron star. Clumps of cometary material likely made a few orbits, with different clumps following different paths before settling into a disk around the neutron star. X-ray variations detected by Swift's X-Ray Telescope that lasted several hours may have resulted from late-arriving clumps that struck the neutron star as the disk formed. The NASA release is here. || ", "release_date": "2011-11-30T13:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:53:26.117792-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 484467, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010800/a010808/GRB_SN_Large_Still_1.jpg", "filename": "GRB_SN_Large_Still_1.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "These animations illustrate two wildly different explanations for GRB 101225A, better known as the \"Christmas burst.\" First, a solitary neutron star in our own galaxy shreds and accretes an approaching comet-like body. In the second, a neutron star is engulfed by, spirals into and merges with an evolved giant star in a distant galaxy.For complete transcript, click here.", "width": 2560, "height": 1440, "pixels": 3686400 } } }, { "id": 406979, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 3702, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3702/", "page_type": "Visualization", "title": "Swift Detects its 500th Gamma Ray Burst", "description": "The NASA Swift mission has detected 500 gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) to-date.This movie is presented as an all-sky map in a Hammer projection (Wikipedia). Each burst lights on the appropriate date and then fades to a green dot to emphasize the random distribution of GRBs on the sky.Another version of this visualization is available at Swift's 500 Gamma-ray Bursts. || ", "release_date": "2010-04-19T11:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:54:17.501159-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 493118, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003700/a003702/Swift500B.Hammer.0500.jpg", "filename": "Swift500B.Hammer.0500.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "This movie presents a frame for each Swift-detected gamma-ray burst.", "width": 1280, "height": 640, "pixels": 819200 } } }, { "id": 406980, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 11250, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11250/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "A Trio of Swift Bursts Form A New Class of GRBs", "description": "Three unusually long-lasting stellar explosions discovered by NASA's Swift satellite represent a previously unrecognized class of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Two international teams of astronomers studying these events conclude that they likely arose from the catastrophic death of supergiant stars hundreds of times larger than the sun. GRBs are the most luminous and mysterious explosions in the universe. The blasts emit surges of gamma rays — the most powerful form of light — as well as X-rays, and they produce afterglows that can be observed at optical and radio energies. Swift, Fermi and other spacecraft detect an average of about one GRB each day.Traditionally, astronomers have recognized two GRB types, short and long, based on the duration of the gamma-ray signal. Short bursts last two seconds or less and are thought to represent a merger of compact objects in a binary system, with the most likely suspects being neutron stars and black holes. Long GRBs may last anywhere from several seconds to several minutes, with typical durations falling between 20 and 50 seconds. These events are thought to be associated with the collapse of a star several times the sun's mass and the resulting birth of a new black hole. Both scenarios give rise to powerful jets that propel matter at nearly the speed of light in opposite directions. As they interact with matter in and around the star, the jets produce a spike of high-energy light. A detailed study of GRB 111209A, which erupted on Dec. 9, 2011, and continued to produce high-energy emission for an astonishing seven hours, making it by far the longest-duration GRB ever recorded.Another event, GRB 101225A, exploded on Christmas Day in 2010 and produced high-energy emission for at least two hours. Subsequently nicknamed the \"Christmas burst,\" the event's distance was unknown, which led two teams to arrive at radically different physical interpretations. One group concluded the blast was caused by an asteroid or comet falling onto a neutron star within our own galaxy. Another team determined that the burst was the outcome of a merger event in an exotic binary system located some 3.5 billion light-years away.Using the Gemini North Telescope in Hawaii, a team led by Andrew Levan at the University of Warwick in Coventry, England, obtained a spectrum of the faint galaxy that hosted the Christmas burst. This enabled the scientists to identify emission lines of oxygen and hydrogen and determine how much these lines were displaced to lower energies compared to their appearance in a laboratory. This difference, known to astronomers as a redshift, places the burst some 7 billion light-years away. Levan and his colleagues also examined 111209A and the more recent burst 121027A, which exploded on Oct. 27, 2012. All show similar X-ray, ultraviolet and optical emission and all arose from the central regions of compact galaxies that were actively forming stars. The astronomers conclude that all three GRBs constitute a hitherto unrecognized group of \"ultra-long\" bursts.To account for the normal class of long GRBs, astronomers envision a star similar to the size sun's size but with many times its mass. The mass must be high enough for the star to undergo an energy crisis, with its core ultimately running out of fuel and collapsing under its own weight to form a black hole. Some of the matter falling onto the nascent black hole becomes redirected into powerful jets that drill through the star, creating the gamma-ray spike, but because this burst is short-lived, the star must be comparatively small. Because ultra-long GRBs persist for periods up to 100 times greater than long GRBs, they require a stellar source of correspondingly greater physical size. Both groups suggest that the likely candidate is a supergiant, a star with about 20 times the sun's mass that still retains its deep hydrogen atmosphere, making it hundreds of times the sun's diameter.Watch this video on YouTube. || ", "release_date": "2013-04-16T13:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:52:13.842328-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 466652, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a011200/a011250/Sun-Star_Scale_FINAL_1080_Unlabeled.jpg", "filename": "Sun-Star_Scale_FINAL_1080_Unlabeled.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Blue supergiant star to scale with the Sun. Unlabeled.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/S. Wiessinger", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 } } }, { "id": 406981, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 11261, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11261/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "NASA's Fermi, Swift See 'Shockingly Bright' Gamma-ray Burst", "description": "A record-setting blast of gamma rays from a dying star in a distant galaxy has wowed astronomers around the world. The eruption, which is classified as a gamma-ray burst, or GRB, and designated GRB 130427A, produced the highest-energy light ever detected from such an event.The GRB lasted so long that a record number of telescopes on the ground were able to catch it while space-based observations were still ongoing.Just after 3:47 a.m. EDT on Saturday, April 27, Fermi's Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) triggered on an eruption of high-energy light in the constellation Leo. The burst occurred as NASA's Swift satellite was slewing between targets, which delayed its Burst Alert Telescope's detection by less than a minute. Fermi's Large Area Telescope (LAT) recorded one gamma ray with an energy of at least 94 billion electron volts (GeV), or some 35 billion times the energy of visible light, and about three times greater than the LAT's previous record. The GeV emission from the burst lasted for hours, and it remained detectable by the LAT for the better part of a day, setting a new record for the longest gamma-ray emission from a GRB.The burst subsequently was detected in optical, infrared and radio wavelengths by ground-based observatories, based on the rapid accurate position from Swift. Astronomers quickly learned that the GRB was located about 3.6 billion light-years away, which for these events is relatively close.Gamma-ray bursts are the universe's most luminous explosions. Astronomers think most occur when massive stars run out of nuclear fuel and collapse under their own weight. As the core collapses into a black hole, jets of material shoot outward at nearly the speed of light. The jets bore all the way through the collapsing star and continue into space, where they interact with gas previously shed by the star and generate bright afterglows that fade with time. If the GRB is near enough, astronomers usually discover a supernova at the site a week or so after the outburst. This GRB is in the closest 5 percent of bursts, so ground-based observatories are monitoring its location in hopes of finding an underlying supernova. || ", "release_date": "2013-05-03T12:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:52:11.580337-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 465852, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a011200/a011261/GRB_LAT_B4_AFTER_2.jpg", "filename": "GRB_LAT_B4_AFTER_2.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "These maps, both centered on the north galactic pole, show how the sky looks at gamma-ray energies above 100 million electron volts (MeV). The first frame shows the sky during a three-hour interval prior to GRB 130427A. The second frame shows a three-hour interval starting 2.5 hours before the burst, and ending 30 minutes into the event. The Fermi team chose this interval to demonstrate how bright the burst was relative to the rest of the gamma-ray sky. This burst was bright enough that Fermi autonomously left its normal surveying mode to give the LAT instrument a better view, so the three-hour exposure following the burst does not cover the whole sky in the usual way. Credit: NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "pixels": 1166400 } } }, { "id": 406982, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 10369, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10369/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Naked-Eye Gamma-ray Burst Model for GRB 080319B", "description": "Gamma-ray bursts that are longer than two seconds are caused by the detonation of a rapidly rotating massive star at the end of its life on the main sequence. Jets of particles and gamma radiation are emitted in opposite directions from the stellar core as the star collapses. In this model, a narrow beam of gamma rays is emitted, followed by a wider beam of gamma rays. The narrow beam for GRB 080319B was aimed almost precisely at the Earth, which made it the brightest gamma-ray burst observed to date by NASA's Swift satellite. || ", "release_date": "2009-01-15T00:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:54:58.841383-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 500363, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010300/a010369/twoComponentJetStream_1280x720.00577_print.jpg", "filename": "twoComponentJetStream_1280x720.00577_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "As the star explodes, the narrow beam (white) of gamma rays is emitted first, followed by the wider beam (purple).", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } } }, { "id": 406983, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 20139, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/20139/", "page_type": "Animation", "title": "Gamma Ray Burst", "description": "This animation was used to illustrate a gamma ray burst that NASA's SWIFT might see. || Gamma Ray Burst || GRBHD039100377_print.jpg (1024x576) [43.9 KB] || GRBHD0391_web.png (320x180) [267.8 KB] || GRBHD0391_thm.png (80x40) [15.0 KB] || 1280x720_16x9_60p (1280x720) [32.0 KB] || grb_hd_720p.m2v (1280x720) [20.5 MB] || grb_hd_720p.webmhd.webm (960x540) [2.0 MB] || a010245_grb_hd_720p.mp4 (640x360) [1.6 MB] || grb_hd_512x288.m1v (512x288) [2.9 MB] || ", "release_date": "2008-05-22T00:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:55:22.253561-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 505298, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a020000/a020100/a020139/GRBHD039100377_print.jpg", "filename": "GRBHD039100377_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Gamma Ray Burst", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } } }, { "id": 406984, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 12038, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12038/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "NASA's Swift Catches its 1,000th Gamma-ray Burst", "description": "Labeled image. GRB 151027B, Swift's 1,000th burst (center), is shown in this composite X-ray, ultraviolet and optical image. X-rays were captured by Swift's X-Ray Telescope, which began observing the field 3.4 minutes after the Burst Alert Telescope detected the blast. Swift's Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope (UVOT) began observations seven seconds later and faintly detected the burst in visible light. The image includes X-rays with energies from 300 to 6,000 electron volts, primarily from the burst, and lower-energy light seen through the UVOT's visible, blue and ultraviolet filters (shown, respectively, in red, green and blue). The image has a cumulative exposure of 10.4 hours. Credit: NASA/Swift/Phil Evans, Univ. of Leicester || grb151027B_UVOT_XRT_labeled_1080.jpg (912x1080) [403.9 KB] || grb151027B_UVOT_XRT_labeled_2160_print.jpg (1024x1213) [394.1 KB] || grb151027B_UVOT_XRT_labeled_2160.jpg (1823x2160) [1.0 MB] || grb151027B_UVOT_XRT_labeled_2160_searchweb.png (320x180) [43.8 KB] || grb151027B_UVOT_XRT_labeled_2160_thm.png (80x40) [3.6 KB] || ", "release_date": "2015-11-06T13:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:49:08.932492-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 438171, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a012000/a012038/grb151027B_UVOT_XRT_labeled_2160_print.jpg", "filename": "grb151027B_UVOT_XRT_labeled_2160_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Labeled image. GRB 151027B, Swift's 1,000th burst (center), is shown in this composite X-ray, ultraviolet and optical image. X-rays were captured by Swift's X-Ray Telescope, which began observing the field 3.4 minutes after the Burst Alert Telescope detected the blast. Swift's Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope (UVOT) began observations seven seconds later and faintly detected the burst in visible light. The image includes X-rays with energies from 300 to 6,000 electron volts, primarily from the burst, and lower-energy light seen through the UVOT's visible, blue and ultraviolet filters (shown, respectively, in red, green and blue). The image has a cumulative exposure of 10.4 hours. Credit: NASA/Swift/Phil Evans, Univ. of Leicester", "width": 1024, "height": 1213, "pixels": 1242112 } } }, { "id": 406985, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 10740, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10740/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "When Neutron Stars Collide", "description": "Armed with state-of-the-art supercomputer models, scientists have shown that colliding neutron stars can produce the energetic jet required for a gamma-ray burst. Earlier simulations demonstrated that mergers could make black holes. Others had shown that the high-speed particle jets needed to make a gamma-ray burst would continue if placed in the swirling wreckage of a recent merger. Now, the simulations reveal the middle step of the process—how the merging stars' magnetic field organizes itself into outwardly directed components capable of forming a jet. The Damiana supercomputer at Germany's Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics needed six weeks to reveal the details of a process that unfolds in just 35 thousandths of a second—less than the blink of an eye.For the researchers' website, with more video and stills of their simulations, go here. || ", "release_date": "2011-04-07T09:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2024-08-14T22:44:54.072536-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 487308, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010700/a010740/Neutron_Star_Merger_Still_3.jpg", "filename": "Neutron_Star_Merger_Still_3.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "State-of-the-art supercomputer models show that merging neutron stars can power a short gamma-ray burst.For complete transcript, click here.", "width": 1280, "height": 720, "pixels": 921600 } } }, { "id": 406986, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 10253, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10253/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Scientists Watch Baby Black Hole Get to Work Fast", "description": "Scientists using NASA's Swift satellite say they have found newborn black holes, just seconds old, in a confused state of existence, sloppily gorging on material falling into them while somehow propelling other material away at great speeds. These black holes are born in massive star explosions. An initial blast obliterates the star. Yet the chaotic black hole activity appears to re-energize the explosion again and again over the course of several minutes. This is a dramatically different view of star death, one that entails multiple explosive outbursts and not just a single bang, as previously thought.When a massive star runs out of fuel, it no longer has the energy to support its mass. The core collapses and forms a black hole. Shockwaves bounce out and obliterate the outer shells of the star. Previously scientists thought that a single explosion is followed by a graceful afterglow of the dying embers. Now, according to Swift observations, it appears that a newborn black hole in the core somehow re-energizes the explosion again and again, creating multiple bursts all within a few minutes. || ", "release_date": "2008-09-26T01:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:55:04.182076-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 501752, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010200/a010253/Supernova_Birth_of_a_Black_Hole_320x24000377_print.jpg", "filename": "Supernova_Birth_of_a_Black_Hole_320x24000377_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "This animation depicts what happens to the most massive stars when they die.", "width": 1024, "height": 768, "pixels": 786432 } } }, { "id": 406987, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 20077, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/20077/", "page_type": "Animation", "title": "Cosmic Explosion Second Only to the Sun in Brightness", "description": "The gamma ray flare produced by neutron star SGR 1806-20, traveled 50,000 light years before impacting Earth. The burst was so powerful, that it disrupted Earth's ionosphere. Scientists know of only two other giant flares in the past 35 years, and this December 27, 2005 event was one hundred times more powerful than either of those || ", "release_date": "2006-08-18T00:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:55:51.151910-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 510356, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a020000/a020000/a020077/flashfinal00152_print.jpg", "filename": "flashfinal00152_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "This animation illustrates Neutron star SGR 1806-20 which produced a gamma ray flare that disrupted Earth's ionosphere.", "width": 1024, "height": 768, "pixels": 786432 } } } ], "extra_data": {} } ] }