{ "count": 67, "next": null, "previous": null, "results": [ { "id": 14786, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14786/", "result_type": "Animation", "release_date": "2025-02-20T00:00:00-05:00", "title": "Swift Spacecraft Animations: 2025", "description": "NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, shown in this artist’s concept, orbits Earth as it studies the ever-changing universe. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab || SWIFT_S1_v2_4k_60fps_proRes.00005_print.jpg (1024x576) [148.3 KB] || SWIFT_S1_v2_4k_60fps_proRes.00005_searchweb.png (320x180) [64.4 KB] || Swift_S1_v2_4k60.mp4 (3840x2160) [25.6 MB] || SWIFT_S1_v2_4k_60fps_proRes.00005_thm.png [4.4 KB] || SWIFT_S1_v2_4k_60fps_proRes.mov (3840x2160) [4.2 GB] || ", "hits": 101 }, { "id": 14738, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14738/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2024-12-20T10:00:00-05:00", "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] || ", "hits": 489 }, { "id": 14721, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14721/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2024-11-20T10:00:00-05:00", "title": "What's In A Name? NASA's Swift Mission", "description": "Watch to learn how NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory got its name.Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight CenterMusic: “In a Conundrum,” Pip Heywood [PRS], Universal Production Music“Spinning Particles,” Christian Telford [ASCAP] and Koichi Sanchez-Imahashi [ASCAP], Universal Production MusicWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available. || Swift_Name_20_Thumbnail2.jpg (1280x720) [308.5 KB] || Swift_Name_20_Thumbnail2_searchweb.png (320x180) [103.9 KB] || Swift_Name_20_Thumbnail2_thm.png (80x40) [9.3 KB] || 14721_Swift20_WhatsInAName_Good.mp4 (1920x1080) [199.2 MB] || 14721_Swift20_WhatsInAName_Best.mp4 (1920x1080) [883.1 MB] || 14721_Swift20_WhatsInAName_Captions.en_US.srt [3.7 KB] || 14721_Swift20_WhatsInAName_Captions.en_US.vtt [3.5 KB] || 14721_Swift20_WhatsInAName_ProRes_1920x1080_2997.mov (1920x1080) [2.6 GB] || ", "hits": 102 }, { "id": 11738, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11738/", "result_type": "Infographic", "release_date": "2024-11-20T00:00:00-05:00", "title": "Infographic: NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory", "description": "This infographic summarizes key aspects of NASA's Swift mission, from its instruments to scientific results gleaned from 20 years of operations. Swift is still going strong, and the observatory remains a key part of NASA’s strategy to monitor the changing sky with multiple telescopes using different approaches for studying the cosmos.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight CenterClick the download button to select from a range of sizes. || Swift_20_Infographic_Quarter.jpg (1550x1991) [1.2 MB] || Swfit_20_Poster_CMYK.jpg (6200x7965) [19.2 MB] || Swift_20_Infographic_Full.jpg (6200x7965) [7.4 MB] || Swift_20_Infographic_Full.png (6200x7965) [34.2 MB] || Swift_20_Infographic_Half.jpg (3100x3983) [3.2 MB] || Swift_20_Infographic_Half.png (3100x3983) [10.5 MB] || Swift_20_Infographic_Full.jpg.dzi [178 bytes] || Swift_20_Infographic_Full.jpg_files [4.0 KB] || ", "hits": 95 }, { "id": 14719, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14719/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2024-11-13T09:00:00-05:00", "title": "Swift Studies Gas-Churning Monster Black Holes", "description": "Watch as a gas cloud encounters two supermassive black holes. The complex interplay of gravitational and frictional forces causes the cloud to condense and heat. Some of the gas is ejected from the system with each orbit of the black holes.Credit: F. Goicovic et al. 2016Music: \"Forgotten Fortunes,\" Magnum Opus [ASCAP] , Universal Production MusicComplete transcript available. || Sim_Video_Still.jpg (3840x2160) [744.6 KB] || Sim_Video_Still_searchweb.png (320x180) [37.6 KB] || Sim_Video_Still_thm.png (80x40) [3.4 KB] || BH_Binary_TD_Sim_1080_Final.mp4 (1920x1080) [38.5 MB] || BH_Binary_TD_Sim_4k_Final.mp4 (3840x2160) [45.5 MB] || BH_Binary_TD_Sim_4k_Final_best.mp4 (3840x2160) [67.9 MB] || 14719_BinaryBHTDE_Captions.en_US.srt [57 bytes] || 14719_BinaryBHTDE_Captions.en_US.vtt [67 bytes] || BH_Binary_TD_Sim_4k_Final_ProRes.mov (3840x2160) [1.5 GB] || ", "hits": 217 }, { "id": 14408, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14408/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2023-09-07T11:00:00-04:00", "title": "Swift Spots a Snacking Black Hole Using a New Trick", "description": "Watch to learn how an update to NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory allowed it to catch a supersized black hole in a distant galaxy munching repeatedly on a circling star. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight CenterMusic: \"Teapot Waltz\" by Benjamin Parsons from Universal Production MusicWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available. || Repeating_TDE_Still.jpg (1920x1080) [446.8 KB] || Repeating_TDE_Still_searchweb.png (320x180) [63.3 KB] || Repeating_TDE_Still_thm.png (80x40) [4.6 KB] || 14408_Repeating_TDE_sub100.mp4 (1920x1080) [89.7 MB] || Repeating_TDE_SRT_Captions.en_US.srt [1.7 KB] || Repeating_TDE_SRT_Captions.en_US.vtt [1.6 KB] || 14408_Repeating_TDE_ProRes_1920x1080_2997.mov (1920x1080) [1.2 GB] || 14408_Repeating_TDE_1080.mp4 (1920x1080) [186.2 MB] || ", "hits": 135 }, { "id": 14355, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14355/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2023-06-01T10:50:00-04:00", "title": "NASA’s Guide to Visiting a Gamma-Ray Burst", "description": "Our intrepid Traveler has decided to visit a gamma-ray burst for their next vacation. If you’d like to follow their adventure, check out this video for tips and tricks.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight CenterMusic: \"Wanna Be Hipster\" from Universal Production MusicWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available. || 14355_Traveler_GRB_YT_Still.jpg (1920x1080) [226.8 KB] || 14355_Traveler_GRB_YT_Still_searchweb.png (180x320) [63.6 KB] || 14355_Traveler_GRB_YT_Still_thm.png (80x40) [7.0 KB] || 14355_Traveler_GRB_1080.mp4 (1920x1080) [147.4 MB] || 14355_Traveler_GRB_sub100.mp4 (1920x1080) [92.0 MB] || 14355_Traveler_GRB_1080.webm (1920x1080) [30.2 MB] || 14355_Traveler_GRB_ProRes_3840x2160_12.mov (3840x2160) [5.7 GB] || 14355_Traveler_GRB_4k.mp4 (3840x2160) [679.8 MB] || 14355_Traveler_GRB_Captions_SRT.en_US.srt [4.9 KB] || 14355_Traveler_GRB_Captions_SRT.en_US.vtt [4.7 KB] || ", "hits": 123 }, { "id": 14317, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14317/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2023-03-28T13:50:00-04:00", "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] || ", "hits": 191 }, { "id": 14255, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14255/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2022-12-07T11:00:00-05:00", "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] || ", "hits": 172 }, { "id": 14148, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14148/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2022-05-05T12:45:00-04:00", "title": "Magnetic Flip Drives Flare-Up of Monster Black Hole", "description": "Explore the unusual eruption of 1ES 1927+654, a galaxy located 236 million light-years away in the constellation Draco. A sudden reversal of the magnetic field around its million-solar-mass black hole may have triggered the outburst.Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Music: \"Water Dance\" and \"Alternate Worlds\" from Universal Production MusicWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available. || ChangingLookAGN_Still1.jpg (1920x1080) [822.9 KB] || ChangingLookAGN_Still1_searchweb.png (320x180) [79.5 KB] || ChangingLookAGN_Still1_thm.png (80x40) [6.2 KB] || 14148_ChangingLook_AGN_1080.webm (1920x1080) [24.8 MB] || 14148_ChangingLook_AGN_Sub100MB.mp4 (1920x1080) [91.5 MB] || 14148_ChangingLook_AGN_1080.mp4 (1920x1080) [246.5 MB] || 14148_ChangingLook_AGN_Best_1080.mp4 (1920x1080) [534.7 MB] || 14148_ChangingLook_AGN_SRT_Captions.en_US.srt [4.2 KB] || 14148_ChangingLook_AGN_SRT_Captions.en_US.vtt [4.3 KB] || 14148_ChangingLook_AGN_ProRes_1920x1080_2997.mov (1920x1080) [3.2 GB] || ", "hits": 218 }, { "id": 13926, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13926/", "result_type": "Animation", "release_date": "2021-09-08T15:00:00-04:00", "title": "Swift Spacecraft Animation", "description": "NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, shown in this illustration, launched into Earth orbit in November 2004. The satellite investigates gamma-ray bursts, the most energetic explosions in the universe. Swift observes the sky in visible, ultraviolet, X-ray, and gamma-ray light. Its name reflects its ability to rapidly follow up on interesting objects in the sky. Swift also studies supernova explosions, star-shredding black holes in other galaxies, comets, stellar remnants called neutron stars, and other cosmic phenomena. In 2018, NASA renamed Swift in honor of the late Neil Gehrels, who helped develop the mission and served as its principal investigator for 13 years.Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (KBRwyle) || swift_spacecraft_update_still.jpg (1920x1080) [769.2 KB] || swift_spacecraft_update_still_print.jpg (1024x576) [328.5 KB] || swift_spacecraft_update_still_searchweb.png (320x180) [94.8 KB] || swift_spacecraft_update_still_web.png (320x180) [94.8 KB] || swift_spacecraft_update_still_thm.png (80x40) [6.5 KB] || swift_spacecraft_update_HQ.mp4 (1920x1080) [47.7 MB] || swift_spacecraft_update_LQ.mp4 (1920x1080) [24.7 MB] || swift_spacecraft_update_prores.mov (1920x1080) [255.2 MB] || swift_spacecraft_update_HQ.webm (1920x1080) [2.2 MB] || ", "hits": 102 }, { "id": 13886, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13886/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2021-07-26T11:00:00-04:00", "title": "NASA's Fermi Spots 'Fizzled' Burst from Collapsing Star", "description": "Astronomers combined data from NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, other space missions, and ground-based observatories to reveal the origin of GRB 200826A, a brief but powerful burst of radiation. It’s the shortest burst known to be powered by a collapsing star – and almost didn’t happen at all. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight CenterMusic: \"Inducing Waves\" from Universal Production MusicWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available. || Fizzled_GRB_Still.jpg (1920x1080) [740.9 KB] || Fizzled_GRB_Still_print.jpg (1024x576) [286.8 KB] || Fizzled_GRB_Still_searchweb.png (320x180) [72.2 KB] || Fizzled_GRB_Still_thm.png (80x40) [4.9 KB] || 13886_Fizzled_GRB_1080.mp4 (1920x1080) [147.2 MB] || 13886_Fizzled_GRB_1080_Best.mp4 (1920x1080) [453.2 MB] || 13886_Fizzled_GRB_ProRes_1920x1080_2997.mov (1920x1080) [2.5 GB] || 13886_Fizzled_GRB_1080.webm (1920x1080) [22.5 MB] || ", "hits": 120 }, { "id": 13792, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13792/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2021-01-13T12:15:00-05:00", "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] || ", "hits": 269 }, { "id": 13594, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13594/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2020-04-28T10:00:00-04:00", "title": "A Day in the Life of a NASA Satellite Team", "description": "Launched on Nov. 20, 2004, NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory has been on the hunt to uncover the mystery of the universe’s most powerful explosions: gamma-ray bursts. These extreme events are some of the farthest objects we’ve ever detected and are associated with some of the most dramatic events in our cosmos, like the collapse of massive stars or the mergers of two neutron stars. In celebration of fifteen years of excellent science, join a Swift scientist as she describes a typical day for the team. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight CenterMusic: \"Fiber Optics\" from Universal Production Music.Complete transcript available. || swift_day_in_life_still_03.png (1920x1080) [2.3 MB] || swift_day_in_life_still_03_print.jpg (1024x576) [125.9 KB] || swift_day_in_life_still_03_searchweb.png (320x180) [60.6 KB] || swift_day_in_life_still_03_web.png (320x180) [60.6 KB] || swift_day_in_life_still_03_thm.png (80x40) [4.5 KB] || swift_day_in_life_HQ.mp4 (1920x1080) [336.4 MB] || swift_day_in_life_LQ.mp4 (1920x1080) [171.5 MB] || swift_day_in_life_prores.mov (1920x1080) [1.8 GB] || swift_day_in_life_HQ.webm (1920x1080) [18.7 MB] || swiftdayinlifecaptions.en_US.srt [3.1 KB] || swiftdayinlifecaptions.en_US.vtt [3.0 KB] || ", "hits": 148 }, { "id": 13570, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13570/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2020-04-27T11:00:00-04:00", "title": "Swift Tracks Water from Interstellar Visitor Borisov", "description": "Watch how NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory tracked water production by interstellar comet 2I/Borisov as it sped through the solar system. On average, Borisov produced enough water to fill a standard bathtub in 10 seconds. It shares many traits with solar system comets, which may mean that comets form similarly in different planetary systems.Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight CenterMusic: \"Mesmeric Thoughts\" from Universal Production MusicWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available. || Swift_Comet_Still.jpg (1920x1080) [599.5 KB] || Swift_Comet_Still_searchweb.png (320x180) [94.6 KB] || Swift_Comet_Still_thm.png (80x40) [6.0 KB] || 13570_Swift_Interstellar_Comet.webm (1920x1080) [17.2 MB] || 13570_Swift_Interstellar_Comet_SRT_Captions.en_US.vtt [2.1 KB] || 13570_Swift_Interstellar_Comet_SRT_Captions.en_US.srt [2.1 KB] || 13570_Swift_Interstellar_Comet_ProRes_1920x1080_2997.mov (1920x1080) [2.1 GB] || 13570_Swift_Interstellar_Comet_Best_1080.mp4 (1920x1080) [375.4 MB] || 13570_Swift_Interstellar_Comet.mp4 (1920x1080) [159.3 MB] || ", "hits": 88 }, { "id": 13321, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13321/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2019-09-26T12:00:00-04:00", "title": "Rare Black Hole Event Seen by Satellites and Ground-based Telescopes Live Shots", "description": "B-roll package that corresponds to the following:SUGGESTED QUESTIONSWhat is a black hole and what did NASA and its partners discover?How does a black hole destroy a star?How did NASA and other observatories work together to capture this moment?What new things did we learn from this catastrophic event?How far away is this black hole? Could our Sun be eaten by a black hole?Black holes are black right? How do scientists study something that can’t be seen?Where can we learn more?QUESTIONS FOR LONGER INTERVIEWS:How does a planet-hunting mission help us learn about black holes?How did the scientists involved first learn about the event?What is #BlackHoleWeek?QUICK LINKS TO VIDEO AND AUDIOClick for downloadable AUDIO SOUNDBITE with NASA Scientist Knicole Colon.Click for downloadable soundbites with NASA Scientist Knicole ColonClick for downloadable soundbites with NASA Scientist Brad CenkoClick for downloadable soundbites with Carnegie astronomer Tom Holoien. || b_roll_slate.png (1280x720) [336.8 KB] || Rare_Black_Hole_Event_Broll_720p.webm (1280x720) [37.1 MB] || Rare_Black_Hole_Event_Broll_720p.mp4 (1280x720) [677.9 MB] || ", "hits": 138 }, { "id": 13237, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13237/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2019-09-26T11:00:00-04:00", "title": "TESS Catches Its First Star-destroying Black Hole", "description": "When a star strays too close to a black hole, intense tides break it apart into a stream of gas. The tail of the stream escapes the system, while the rest of it swings back around, surrounding the black hole with a disk of debris. This video includes images of a tidal disruption event called ASASSN-19bt taken by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and Swift missions, as well as an animation showing how the event unfolded. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight CenterMusic: \"Games Show Sphere 03\" from Universal Production MusicWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available. || TESS_TDE_Still_print.jpg (1024x576) [87.3 KB] || TESS_TDE_Still.jpg (3840x2160) [629.6 KB] || TESS_TDE_Still_searchweb.png (320x180) [68.3 KB] || TESS_TDE_Still_thm.png (80x40) [5.3 KB] || 13237_TESS_TDE_ProRes_1920x1080.mov (1920x1080) [1.6 GB] || 13237_TESS_TDE_1080_Best.mp4 (1920x1080) [380.2 MB] || 13237_TESS_TDE_1080.mp4 (1920x1080) [125.6 MB] || 13237_TESS_TDE_1080_Best.webm (1920x1080) [12.6 MB] || 13237_TESS_TDE_SRT_Captions.en_US.srt [2.2 KB] || 13237_TESS_TDE_SRT_Captions.en_US.vtt [2.2 KB] || ", "hits": 111 }, { "id": 12980, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12980/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2018-08-21T10:00:00-04:00", "title": "Swift Millionth Image Mosaic", "description": "This mosaic of the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory is created from images of astronomical objects captured by the satellite’s Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope which recently captured its millionth image. Each tile is 52 x 39 pixels, and at maximum resolution, the entire mosaic is 5,252 x 3,744 pixels. Zoom in to see each tile more clearly. Credit: NASA/Swift and AndreaMosaic || Swift_Millionth_Image_Mosaic_2k.jpg (2000x1426) [593.8 KB] || Swift_Millionth_Image_Mosaic_2k_print.jpg (1024x730) [148.9 KB] || Swift_Millionth_Image_Mosaic.jpg (5252x3744) [3.2 MB] || Swift_Millionth_Image_Mosaic_2k_searchweb.png (320x180) [65.4 KB] || Swift_Millionth_Image_Mosaic_2k_thm.png (80x40) [5.1 KB] || ", "hits": 110 }, { "id": 12808, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12808/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2018-01-10T14:10:00-05:00", "title": "Newly Renamed Swift Mission Catches a Comet Slowdown", "description": "NASA’s Swift satellite detected an unprecedented slowdown in the rotation of comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresák when it passed nearest to Earth in early 2017. Watch to learn more.Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Music: \"Valley of Crystals\" from Killer TracksWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available. || Comet_3.jpg (1920x1080) [159.1 KB] || Comet_3_print.jpg (1024x576) [49.1 KB] || Comet_3_searchweb.png (320x180) [41.5 KB] || Comet_3_thm.png (80x40) [4.3 KB] || 12808_Swift_Comet_Spin_ProRes_1920x1080_2997.mov (1920x1080) [2.4 GB] || 12808_Swift_Comet_Spin-H264_Best_1080p.mov (1920x1080) [503.7 MB] || 12808_Swift_Comet_Spin_H264_Good_1080.m4v (1920x1080) [196.4 MB] || 12808_Swift_Comet_Spin-H264_Best_1080p.webm (1920x1080) [22.2 MB] || 12808_Swift_Comet_Spin_SRT_Caption.en_US.srt [3.4 KB] || 12808_Swift_Comet_Spin_SRT_Caption.en_US.vtt [3.2 KB] || ", "hits": 106 }, { "id": 12499, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12499/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2017-03-20T14:00:00-04:00", "title": "Swift Charts a Star's 'Death Spiral' into Black Hole", "description": "This animation illustrates how debris from a tidally disrupted star collides with itself, creating shock waves that emit ultraviolet and optical light far from the black hole. According to Swift observations of ASASSN-14li, these clumps took about a month to fall back to the black hole, where they produced changes in the X-ray emission that correlated with the earlier UV and optical changes.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight CenterWatch this video on the NASA.gov Video YouTube channel. || TD_Shocks_Still_print.jpg (1024x576) [115.2 KB] || TD_Shocks_Still.png (3840x2160) [32.6 MB] || TD_Shocks_Still.jpg (3840x2160) [922.7 KB] || TD_Shocks_Still_searchweb.png (320x180) [59.5 KB] || TD_Shocks_Still_thm.png (80x40) [4.8 KB] || 12499_Tidal_Disruption_Shocks_at_Apocenter_FINAL_1080.mov (1920x1080) [50.7 MB] || 12499_Tidal_Disruption_Shocks_at_Apocenter_FINAL_VX-280970_youtube_hq.mov (1920x1080) [25.7 MB] || 12499_Tidal_Disruption_Shocks_at_Apocenter_FINAL_Good_1080.m4v (1920x1080) [44.4 MB] || 12499_Tidal_Disruption_Shocks_at_Apocenter_FINAL_VX-280970_appletv.m4v (1280x720) [25.2 MB] || 12499_Tidal_Disruption_Shocks_at_Apocenter_FINAL_Compatible.m4v (960x540) [10.2 MB] || 12499_Tidal_Disruption_Shocks_at_Apocenter_FINAL_VX-280970_HD.wmv (1920x1080) [6.9 MB] || 12499_Tidal_Disruption_Shocks_at_Apocenter_FINAL_Compatible.webm (960x540) [3.8 MB] || 12499_Tidal_Disruption_Shocks_at_Apocenter_FINAL_VX-280970_appletv_subtitles.m4v (1280x720) [25.2 MB] || 12499_Tidal_Disruption_SRT_Captions.en_US.srt [509 bytes] || 12499_Tidal_Disruption_SRT_Captions.en_US.vtt [522 bytes] || 12499_Tidal_Disruption_Shocks_at_Apocenter_FINAL_ProRes_1920x1080_2997.mov (1920x1080) [591.1 MB] || ", "hits": 214 }, { "id": 30834, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/30834/", "result_type": "Hyperwall Visual", "release_date": "2016-12-06T00:00:00-05:00", "title": "NASA's Astrophysics Fleet", "description": "Astrophysics Fleet || astro-fleet-spiral-07-24-2024_print.jpg (1024x575) [163.0 KB] || astro-fleet-spiral-07-24-2024.png (2560x1439) [2.0 MB] || astro-fleet-spiral-07-24-2024_searchweb.png (320x180) [85.2 KB] || astro-fleet-spiral-07-24-2024_thm.png (80x40) [7.4 KB] || nasas-astrophysics-fleet.hwshow [306 bytes] ||", "hits": 69 }, { "id": 12399, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12399/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2016-10-27T12:55:00-04:00", "title": "NASA's Kepler, Swift Missions Harvest ‘Pumpkin’ Stars", "description": "Dive into the Kepler field and learn more about the origins of these rapidly spinning stars.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight CenterMusic: \"Electric Cosmos\" from Killer TracksWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available. || Pumpkin_Star_Still.png (1920x1080) [10.8 MB] || Pumpkin_Star_Still_print.jpg (1024x576) [85.7 KB] || Pumpkin_Star_Still_searchweb.png (320x180) [66.5 KB] || Pumpkin_Star_Still_thm.png (80x40) [4.4 KB] || 12399_Swift_Pumpkin_Star2_ProRes_1920x1080_2997.mov (1920x1080) [2.0 GB] || 12399_Swift_Pumpkin_Star_FINAL2_youtube_hq.mov (1920x1080) [1.2 GB] || 12399_Swift_Pumpkin_Star2_H264_1080.mov (1920x1080) [221.8 MB] || 12399_Swift_Pumpkin_Star2_1080_Good.m4v (1920x1080) [147.1 MB] || 12399_Swift_Pumpkin_Star2_1080_Most_Compatible.m4v (960x540) [59.7 MB] || 12399_Swift_Pumpkin_Star_FINAL2_HD.wmv (1920x1080) [332.6 MB] || 12399_Swift_Pumpkin_Star2_ProRes_1920x1080_2997.webm (1920x1080) [17.0 MB] || 12399_Swift_Pumpkin_Star_SRT_Captions.en_US.srt [2.3 KB] || 12399_Swift_Pumpkin_Star_SRT_Captions.en_US.vtt [2.3 KB] || 12399_Swift_Pumpkin_Star_FINAL2_ipod_sm.mp4 (320x240) [26.8 MB] || ", "hits": 217 }, { "id": 12265, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12265/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2016-06-22T13:00:00-04:00", "title": "X-ray Echoes Map a 'Killer' Black Hole", "description": "NASA Goddard astronomer Erin Kara discusses the discovery of X-ray echoes from Swift J1644+57, a black hole that shattered a passing star. X-rays produced by flares near this million-solar-mass black hole bounced off the nascent accretion disk and revealed its structure. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight CenterMusic: \"The Orion Arm\" and \"Particle Acceleration\" both from Killer Tracks.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available. || TD_Still.png (1920x1080) [11.0 MB] || TD_Still_print.jpg (1024x576) [109.7 KB] || TD_Still_searchweb.png (180x320) [91.6 KB] || TD_Still_thm.png (80x40) [7.0 KB] || 12265_BH_Echoes_FINAL2_ProRes_1920x1080_2997.mov (1920x1080) [3.8 GB] || 12265_BH_Echoes_FINAL2_youtube_hq.mov (1920x1080) [1.6 GB] || 12265_BH_Echoes_FINAL2-HD_1080p.mov (1920x1080) [443.2 MB] || 12265_BH_Echoes_FINAL2-Apple_Devices_Best.m4v (1920x1080) [295.2 MB] || 12265_BH_Echoes_FINAL2_appletv.m4v (1280x720) [150.6 MB] || 12265_BH_Echoes_FINAL2-Apple_HD_Compatible.m4v (960x540) [118.9 MB] || 12265_BH_Echoes_FINAL2_appletv_subtitles.m4v (1280x720) [150.7 MB] || 12265_BH_Echoes_FINAL2-Apple_HD_Compatible.webm (960x540) [31.7 MB] || 12265_BH_Echoes_FINAL2_SRT_Captions.en_US.srt [5.3 KB] || 12265_BH_Echoes_FINAL2_SRT_Captions.en_US.vtt [5.3 KB] || 12265_BH_Echoes_FINAL2_lowres.mp4 (480x272) [39.9 MB] || ", "hits": 181 }, { "id": 20228, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/20228/", "result_type": "Animation", "release_date": "2016-04-06T11:00:00-04:00", "title": "Massive Black Hole Shreds Passing Star (Animation Only)", "description": "A star approaching too close to a massive black hole is torn apart by tidal forces, as shown in this artist's rendering. Filaments containing much of the star's mass fall toward the black hole. Eventually these gaseous filaments merge into a smooth, hot disc glowing brightly in X-rays. As the disk forms, it's central region heats up tremendously, which drives a flow of material, called a wind, away from the disk.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/CI LabWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.For complete transcript, click here. || BlackHoleAnimation.1675_print.jpg (1024x576) [119.5 KB] || BlackHoleAnimation.1675_searchweb.png (320x180) [88.0 KB] || BlackHoleAnimation.1675_thm.png (80x40) [5.9 KB] || 20228_Swift_Tidal_ProRes_1920x1080_5994.webm (1920x1080) [4.8 MB] || 1920x1080_16x9_60p (1920x1080) [256.0 KB] || 20228_Swift_Tidal_ProRes_1920x1080_5994.mov (1920x1080) [1.4 GB] || 20228_Swift_Tidal_H264_1920x1080_5994.mov (1920x1080) [813.8 MB] || ", "hits": 177 }, { "id": 12038, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12038/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2015-11-06T13:00:00-05:00", "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] || ", "hits": 122 }, { "id": 12005, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12005/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2015-10-21T13:00:00-04:00", "title": "Massive Black Hole Shreds Passing Star", "description": "A star approaching too close to a massive black hole is torn apart by tidal forces, as shown in this artist's rendering. Filaments containing much of the star's mass fall toward the black hole. Eventually these gaseous filaments merge into a smooth, hot disk glowing brightly in X-rays. As the disk forms, its central region heats up tremendously, which drives a flow of material, called a wind, away from the disk. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/CI LabWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.For complete transcript, click here. || Swift_Tidal_Disruption_2_Still_print.jpg (1024x576) [172.7 KB] || Swift_Tidal_Disruption_2_Still.jpg (1920x1080) [606.7 KB] || Swift_Tidal_Disruption_2_Still_web.png (320x180) [98.5 KB] || Swift_Tidal_Disruption_2_Still_thm.png (80x40) [6.8 KB] || Swift_Tidal_Disruption_2_Still_searchweb.png (320x180) [98.4 KB] || APPLE_TV_12005_Swift_Tidal_Music_FINAL_appletv_subtitles.m4v (1280x720) [37.5 MB] || 12005_Swift_Tidal_Music_MPEG4_1920X1080_2997.mp4 (1920x1080) [40.5 MB] || 12005_Swift_Tidal_Music_MPEG4_1920X1080_2997.webm (1920x1080) [7.7 MB] || WMV_12005_Swift_Tidal_Music_FINAL_HD.wmv (1920x1080) [49.6 MB] || APPLE_TV_12005_Swift_Tidal_Music_FINAL_appletv.m4v (1280x720) [37.4 MB] || 12005_Swift_Tidal_SRT_Captions.en_US.vtt [261 bytes] || 12005_Swift_Tidal_Music_FINAL_lowres.mp4 (480x272) [10.6 MB] || NASA_PODCAST_12005_Swift_Tidal_Music_FINAL_ipod_sm.mp4 (320x240) [12.3 MB] || 12005_Swift_Tidal_SRT_Captions.en_US.srt [248 bytes] || 12005_Swift_Tidal_Music_ProRes_1920x1080_5994.mov (1920x1080) [2.1 GB] || 12005_Swift_Tidal_Music_H264_Good_1920x1080_2997.mov (1920x1080) [301.2 MB] || 12005_Swift_Tidal_Music_FINAL_youtube_hq.mov (1920x1080) [1.3 GB] || 12005_Swift_Tidal_Music_H264_Best_1920x1080_5994.mov (1920x1080) [2.5 GB] || ", "hits": 259 }, { "id": 11948, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11948/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2015-07-09T13:00:00-04:00", "title": "X-ray Echoes Create a Black Hole Bull's-eye", "description": "Rings of X-ray light centered on V404 Cygni, a binary system containing an erupting black hole (dot at center), were imaged by the X-ray Telescope aboard NASA's Swift satellite from June 30 to July 4. A narrow gap splits the middle ring in two. Color indicates the energy of the X-rays, with red representing the lowest (800 to 1,500 electron volts, eV), green for medium (1,500 to 2,500 eV), and the most energetic (2,500 to 5,000 eV) shown in blue. For comparison, visible light has energies ranging from about 2 to 3 eV. The dark lines running diagonally through the image are artifacts of the imaging system.Credit: Andrew Beardmore (Univ. of Leicester) and NASA/Swift || rings_1080.gif (1080x1080) [1.3 MB] || ", "hits": 86 }, { "id": 11725, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11725/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2015-01-07T13:15:00-05:00", "title": "NASA Missions Take an Unparalleled Look into Superstar Eta Carinae", "description": "Explore Eta Carinae from the inside out with the help of supercomputer simulations and data from NASA satellites and ground-based observatories. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight CenterWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.For complete transcript, click here. || Eta_Car_Density_XY_R10_R100_STILL_1920.jpg (1920x1080) [804.4 KB] || Eta_Car_Density_XY_R10_R100_STILL_1920_print.jpg (1024x576) [52.0 KB] || Eta_Car_Density_XY_R10_R100_STILL.jpg (4928x2772) [874.1 KB] || Eta_Car_Density_XY_R10_R100_STILL.png (4928x2772) [36.6 MB] || Eta_Car_Density_XY_R10_R100_STILL_1920_web.jpg (320x180) [13.1 KB] || Eta_Car_Density_XY_R10_R100_STILL_1920_searchweb.png (320x180) [55.9 KB] || Eta_Car_Density_XY_R10_R100_STILL_1920_thm.png (80x40) [8.0 KB] || Eta_Car_Density_XY_R10_R100_STILL_1920.tiff (1920x1080) [11.9 MB] || G2015-001_Eta_Car_Binary_Final_appletv.webm (960x540) [30.5 MB] || G2015-001_Eta_Car_Binary_Final_ipod_lg.m4v (640x360) [43.2 MB] || G2015-001_Eta_Car_Binary.en_US.vtt [5.2 KB] || G2015-001_Eta_Car_Binary.en_US.srt [5.2 KB] || G2015-001_Eta_Car_Binary_Final_ipod_sm.mp4 (320x240) [22.8 MB] || G2015-001_Eta_Car_Binary_Final_appletv_subtitles.m4v (960x540) [103.9 MB] || G2015-001_Eta_Car_Binary_Final_appletv.m4v (960x540) [104.0 MB] || G2015-001_Eta_Car_Binary_Final_1280x720.wmv (1280x720) [107.6 MB] || 11725_Eta_Car_Binary2_MPEG4_1920X1080_2997.mp4 (1920x1080) [116.9 MB] || 11725_Eta_Car_Binary2_ProRes_1920x1080_2997.mov (1920x1080) [3.5 GB] || 11725_Eta_Car_Binary2_H264_Best_1920x1080_2997.mov (1920x1080) [2.6 GB] || 11725_Eta_Car_Binary2_H264_Good_1920x1080_2997.mov (1920x1080) [506.2 MB] || Eta_Car_Density_XY_R10_R100_STILL.tiff (4928x2772) [104.2 MB] || ", "hits": 164 }, { "id": 10170, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10170/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2014-11-20T14:00:00-05:00", "title": "Highlights of Swift's Decade of Discovery", "description": "A collection of some of Swift's most noteworthy and interesting discoveries and observations from its ten years of viewing the sky.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.For complete transcript, click here. || Swift_still_print.jpg (1024x576) [115.9 KB] || Swift_still.png (2560x1440) [3.3 MB] || Swift_still_thm.png (80x40) [9.6 KB] || Swift_still_web.jpg (320x180) [20.8 KB] || Swift_still_searchweb.png (320x180) [92.0 KB] || Swift_10_Highlights_H264_Good_1280x720_29.97.webmhd.webm (960x540) [80.6 MB] || G2014-067_Swift_10_Highlights_FINAL_appletv_subtitles.m4v (960x540) [153.8 MB] || G2014-067_Swift_10_Highlights_FINAL_1280x720.wmv (1280x720) [166.6 MB] || Swift_10_Highlights_MPEG4_1280X720_29.97.mp4 (1280x720) [123.7 MB] || G2014-067_Swift_10_Highlights_FINAL_appletv.m4v (960x540) [154.0 MB] || Swift_10_Highlights_H264_Good_1280x720_29.97.mov (1280x720) [351.9 MB] || G2014-067_Swift_10_Highlights_FINAL_youtube_hq.mov (1280x720) [352.2 MB] || G2014-067_Swift_10_Highlights_FINAL_ipod_lg.m4v (640x360) [62.8 MB] || Swift_10_Highlights_SRT_Captions.en_US.vtt [7.2 KB] || Swift_10_Highlights_SRT_Captions.en_US.srt [7.2 KB] || Swift_10_Highlights_H264_640x360_29.97_iPhone.m4v (640x360) [67.4 MB] || G2014-067_Swift_10_Highlights_FINAL_ipod_sm.mp4 (320x240) [32.6 MB] || Swift_10_Highlights_H264_Best_1280x720_59.94.mov (1280x720) [2.5 GB] || Swift_10_Highlights_ProRes_1280x720_59.94.mov (1280x720) [5.2 GB] || ", "hits": 81 }, { "id": 10171, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10171/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2014-11-20T14:00:00-05:00", "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] || ", "hits": 96 }, { "id": 10082, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10082/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2014-11-19T10:00:00-05:00", "title": "Swift Probes Exotic Object: 'Kicked' Black Hole or Mega Star?", "description": "Zoom into Markarian 177 and SDSS1133 and see how they compare with a simulated galaxy collision. When the central black holes in these galaxies combine, a \"kick\" launches the merged black hole on a wide orbit taking it far from the galaxy's core. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/L. Blecha (UMD) || Zoom_Still.jpg (1920x1080) [363.8 KB] || Zoom_Still_print.jpg (1024x576) [137.1 KB] || Zoom_Still_web.png (320x180) [60.9 KB] || SDSS1133_Zoom-Simulation_MPEG4_1920x1080_29.97.mp4 (1920x1080) [31.7 MB] || SDSS1133_Zoom-Simulation_H264_Good_1920x1080_29.97.mov (1920x1080) [68.2 MB] || SDSS1133_Zoom-Simulation_H264_Best_1920x1080_29.97.mov (1920x1080) [278.2 MB] || SDSS1133_Zoom-Simulation_MPEG4_1920x1080_29.97.webmhd.webm (960x540) [13.2 MB] || SDSS1133_Zoom-Simulation_H264_640x360_29.97_iPhone.m4v (640x360) [10.9 MB] || ", "hits": 223 }, { "id": 11713, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11713/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2014-10-21T14:00:00-04:00", "title": "Fermi Finds Hints of Starquakes in Magnetar 'Storm'", "description": "Astronomers analyzing data acquired by NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope during a rapid-fire \"storm\" of high-energy blasts in 2009 have discovered underlying signals related to seismic waves rippling throughout the host neutron star.The burst storm came from SGR J1550−5418, a neutron star with a super-strong magnetic field, also known as a magnetar. Located about 15,000 light-years away in the constellation Norma, the magnetar was quiet until October 2008, when it entered a period of eruptive activity that ended in April 2009. At times, the object produced hundreds of bursts in as little as 20 minutes, and the most intense explosions emitted more total energy than the sun does in 20 years. High-energy instruments on many spacecraft, including NASA's Swift and Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer, detected hundreds of gamma-ray and X-ray blasts.An examination of 263 individual bursts detected by Fermi's Gamma-ray Burst Monitor confirms vibrations in the frequency ranges previously only seen in rare giant flares from magnetars. Astronomers suspect these are twisting oscillations of the star where the crust and the core, bound by the magnetic field, vibrate together. In addition, a single burst showed an oscillation at a frequency never seen before and which scientists still do not understand.While there are many efforts to describe the interiors of neutron stars, scientists lack enough observational detail to choose between differing models. Neutron stars reach densities far beyond the reach of laboratories and their interiors may exceed the density of an atomic nucleus by as much as 10 times. Knowing more about how bursts shake up these stars will give theorists an important new window into understanding their internal structure.Magnetar Burst with Torsional Waves || ", "hits": 155 }, { "id": 11531, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11531/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2014-09-30T14:00:00-04:00", "title": "Swift Catches Mega Flares from a Mini Star", "description": "On April 23, NASA's Swift satellite detected the strongest, hottest, and longest-lasting sequence of stellar flares ever seen from a nearby red dwarf star. The initial blast from this record-setting series of explosions was as much as 10,000 times more powerful than the largest solar flare ever recorded. At its peak, the flare reached temperatures of 360 million degrees Fahrenheit (200 million Celsius), more than 12 times hotter than the center of the sun. The \"superflare\" came from one of the stars in a close binary system known as DG Canum Venaticorum, or DG CVn for short, located about 60 light-years away. Both stars are dim red dwarfs with masses and sizes about one-third of our sun's. They orbit each other at about three times Earth's average distance from the sun, which is too close for Swift to determine which star erupted. At 5:07 p.m. EDT on April 23, the rising tide of X-rays from DG CVn's superflare triggered Swift's Burst Alert Telescope (BAT). Swift turned to observe the source in greater detail with other instruments and, at the same time, notified astronomers around the globe that a powerful outburst was in progress.For about three minutes after the BAT trigger, the superflare's X-ray brightness was greater than the combined luminosity of both stars at all wavelengths under normal conditions.The largest solar explosions are classified as extraordinary, or X class, solar flares based on their X-ray emission. The biggest flare ever seen from the sun occurred in November 2003 and is rated as X 45. But if the flare on DG CVn were viewed from a planet the same distance as Earth is from the sun and measured the same way, it would have been ranked 10,000 times greater, at about X 100,000. How can a star just a third the size of the sun produce such a giant eruption? The key factor is its rapid spin, a crucial ingredient for amplifying magnetic fields. The flaring star in DG CVn rotates in under a day, about 30 or more times faster than our sun. The sun also rotated much faster in its youth and may well have produced superflares of its own, but, fortunately for us, it no longer appears capable of doing so. || ", "hits": 174 }, { "id": 11609, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11609/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2014-07-22T10:00:00-04:00", "title": "NASA's Fermi Catches a 'Transformer' Pulsar", "description": "In late June 2013, an exceptional binary system containing a rapidly spinning neutron star underwent a dramatic change in behavior never before observed. The pulsar's radio beacon vanished, while at the same time the system brightened fivefold in gamma rays, the most powerful form of light, according to measurements by NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope.The system, known as AY Sextantis, is located about 4,400 light-years away in the constellation Sextans. It pairs a 1.7-millisecond pulsar named PSR J1023+0038 — J1023 for short — with a star containing about one-fifth the mass of the sun. The stars complete an orbit in only 4.8 hours, which places them so close together that the pulsar will gradually evaporate its companion. To better understand J1023's spin and orbital evolution, the system was routinely monitored in radio. These observations revealed that the pulsar's radio signal had turned off and prompted the search for an associated change in its gamma-ray properties.What's happening, astronomers say, are the last sputtering throes of the pulsar spin-up process. Researchers regard the system as a unique laboratory for understanding how millisecond pulsars form and for studying details of how accretion takes place on neutron stars. In J1023, the stars are close enough that a stream of gas flows from the sun-like star toward the pulsar. The pulsar's rapid rotation and intense magnetic field are responsible for both the radio beam and its powerful pulsar wind. When the radio beam is detectable, the pulsar wind holds back the companion's gas stream, preventing it from approaching too closely. But now and then the stream surges, pushing its way closer to the pulsar and establishing an accretion disk. When gas from the disk falls to an altitude of about 50 miles (80 km), processes involved in creating the radio beam are either shut down or, more likely, obscured. Some of the gas may be accelerated outward at nearly the speed of light, forming dual particle jets firing in opposite directions. Shock waves within and along the periphery of these jets are a likely source of the bright gamma-ray emission detected by Fermi. || ", "hits": 183 }, { "id": 11118, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11118/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2014-01-08T10:00:00-05:00", "title": "Swift Catches X-ray Activity at the Galaxy's Center", "description": "A seven-year campaign to monitor the center of our galaxy with NASA's Swift spacecraft has provided astronomers with a unique bounty, more than doubling the number of bright X-ray flares observed from our galaxy's central black hole and leading to the discovery of a rare type of neutron star.The innermost region of our galaxy lies 26,000 light-years away in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius. At the center of it all lurks Sgr A* (pronounced \"saj a-star\"), a behemoth black hole containing 4 million times the sun's mass.Sgr A* regularly produces bright X-ray flares today, but astronomers know it was much more active in the past. To better understand its long-term behavior, the Swift team began regular observations of the galactic center in February 2006. Every few days, the spacecraft turns toward the inmost galaxy and takes a 17-minute-long \"snapshot\" with its X-Ray Telescope (XRT). Swift's XRT has now detected six bright flares, during which the black hole's X-ray emission brightened by up to 150 times for a couple of hours. These new detections, in addition to four found by other spacecraft, enabled astronomers to estimate that similar flares occur every five to 10 days. The Swift XRT team is on the lookout for the first sign that a small cold gas cloud named G2, which is swinging near Sgr A*, has begun emitting X-rays. This is expected to start sometime in spring 2014. The event will unfold for years and may fuel strong activity from the monster black hole. The monitoring campaign has already yielded one important discovery: SGR J1745-29, an object called a magnetar. This subclass of neutron star has a magnetic field thousands of times stronger than normal; so far, only 26 magnetars are known. A magnetar orbiting Sgr A* may allow scientists to explore important properties of the black hole and test predictions of Einstein’s theory of general relativity. || ", "hits": 273 }, { "id": 11407, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11407/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2013-11-21T14:00:00-05:00", "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 || ", "hits": 113 }, { "id": 11293, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11293/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2013-06-03T14:00:00-04:00", "title": "NASA Swift Provides the Best-Ever UV View of the Nearest Galaxies", "description": "Astronomers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and the Pennsylvania State University in University Park, Pa., have used NASA's Swift satellite to create the most detailed surveys of the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, the two closest major galaxies, in ultraviolet light.Thousands of images were assembled into seamless portraits of the main body of each galaxy to produce the highest-resolution surveys of the Magellanic Clouds at ultraviolet wavelengths. The project was proposed by Stefan Immler, an astronomer at Goddard.The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, or LMC and SMC for short, lie about 163,000 and 200,000 light-years away, respectively, and orbit each other as well as our own Milky Way galaxy. Compared to the Milky Way, the LMC has about one-tenth its physical size and only 1 percent of its mass. The SMC is only half the size of the LMC and contains about two-thirds of its mass. The new images reveal about a million ultraviolet sources within the LMC and about 250,000 in the SMC. Viewing in the ultraviolet allows astronomers to suppress the light of normal stars like the sun, which are not very bright at these higher energies, and provide a clearer picture of the hottest stars and star-formation regions. Only Swift's Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope, or UVOT, is capable of producing such high-resolution wide-field multi-color surveys in the ultraviolet. The LMC and SMC images range from 1,600 to 3,300 angstroms, UV wavelengths largely blocked by Earth's atmosphere. The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds are readily visible from the Southern Hemisphere as faint, glowing patches in the night sky. The galaxies are named after Ferdinand Magellan, the Portuguese explorer who in 1519 led an expedition to sail around the world. He and his crew were among the first Europeans to sight the objects.Watch this video on YouTube. || ", "hits": 191 }, { "id": 11260, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11260/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2013-05-29T13:00:00-04:00", "title": "NASA's Swift Catches an Anti-glitch from a Neutron Star", "description": "Using observations by NASA's Swift satellite, an international team of astronomers has identified an abrupt slowdown in the rotation of a neutron star. The discovery holds important clues for understanding some of the densest matter in the universe.While astronomers have witnessed hundreds of events, called glitches, associated with sudden increases in the spin of neutron stars, the sudden spin-down caught them off guard. A neutron star is the crushed core of a massive star that ran out of fuel, collapsed under its own weight, and exploded as a supernova. It's the closest thing to a black hole that astronomers can observe directly, compressing half a million times Earth's mass into a ball roughly the size of Manhattan Island. Matter within a neutron star is so dense that a teaspoonful would weigh about a billion tons on Earth. Neutron stars possess two other important traits. They spin rapidly, ranging from a few rpm to as many as 43,000, comparable to the blades of a kitchen blender, and they boast magnetic fields a trillion times stronger than Earth's. About two dozen neutron stars occasionally produce high-energy explosions that astronomers say require magnetic fields thousands of times stronger than expected. These exceptional objects, called magnetars, are routinely monitored by a McGill team led by Kaspi using Swift's X-Ray Telescope.Read the rest of the story here. || ", "hits": 263 }, { "id": 11250, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11250/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2013-04-16T13:00:00-04:00", "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. || ", "hits": 226 }, { "id": 11162, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11162/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2012-12-12T13:00:00-05:00", "title": "Astronomers Catch a Jet from a Binge-eating Black Hole", "description": "In January 2012, a new X-ray source flared and rapidly brightened in the Andromeda galaxy (M31), located 2.5 million light-years away. Classified as an ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX), the object is only the second ever seen in M31 and became the target of an intense observing campaign by orbiting X-ray telescopes — including NASA's Swift — and radio observatories on the ground. These efforts resulted in the first detection of radio-emitting jets from a stellar-mass black hole outside our own galaxy. A ULX is thought to be a binary system containing a black hole that is rapidly accreting gas from its stellar companion. However, to account for the brilliant high-energy output, gas must be flowing into the black hole at a rate very near a theoretical maximum, a feeding frenzy that astronomers do not yet fully understand. As gas spirals toward a black hole, it becomes compressed and heated, eventually reaching temperatures where it emits X-rays. As the rate of matter ingested by the black hole increases, so does the X-ray brightness of the gas. At some point, the X-ray emission becomes so intense that it pushes back on the inflowing gas, theoretically capping any further increase in the black hole's accretion rate. Astronomers refer to this as the Eddington limit, after Sir Arthur Eddington, the British astrophysicist who first recognized a similar cutoff to the maximum luminosity of a star. Black-hole binaries in our galaxy that show accretion at the Eddington limit also exhibit powerful radio-emitting jets that move near the speed of light. Although astronomers know little about the physical nature of these jets, detecting them at all would confirm that the ULX is accreting at the limit and identify it as a stellar mass black hole. The European Space Agency's XMM-Newton observatory first detected the ULX, dubbed XMMU J004243.6+412519 after its astronomical coordinates, on Jan. 15. Middleton and a large international team then began monitoring it at X-ray energies using XMM-Newton and NASA's Swift satellite and Chandra X-ray Observatory. The scientists conducted radio observations using the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) and the continent-spanning Very Long Baseline Array, both operated by the National Science Foundation in Socorro, N.M., and the Arcminute Microkelvin Imager Large Array located at the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory near Cambridge, England. In a paper published online by the journal Nature on Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012, the scientists reveal their successful detection of intense radio emission associated with a jet moving at more than 85 percent the speed of light. VLA data reveal that the radio emission was quite variable, in one instance decreasing by a factor of two in just half an hour. This tells astronomers that the region producing radio waves is extremely small in size — no farther across than the distance between Jupiter and the sun. Black holes have been conclusively detected in two varieties: \"lightweight\" ones created by stars and containing up to a few dozen times the sun's mass, and supermassive \"heavyweights\" of millions to billions of solar masses found at the centers of most big galaxies. Astronomers have debated whether many ULXs represent hard-to-find \"middleweight\" versions, containing hundreds to thousands of solar masses. || ", "hits": 100 }, { "id": 11109, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11109/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2012-10-12T10:00:00-04:00", "title": "X-ray Satellites Monitor the Clashing Winds of a Colossal Binary", "description": "One of the nearest and richest OB associations in our galaxy is Cygnus OB2, which is located about 4,700 light-years away and hosts some 3,000 hot stars, including about 100 in the O class. Weighing in at more than a dozen times the sun's mass and sporting surface temperatures five to ten times hotter, these ginormous blue-white stars blast their surroundings with intense ultraviolet light and powerful outflows called stellar winds. Two of these stars can be found in the intriguing binary system known as Cygnus OB2 #9. In 2011, NASA's Swift satellite, the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton observatory and several ground-based facilities took part in a campaign to monitor the system as the giant stars raced toward their closest approach. The observations are giving astronomers a more detailed picture of the stars, their orbits and the interaction of their stellar winds. An O-type star is so luminous that the pressure of its starlight actually drives material from its surface, creating particle outflows with speeds of several million miles an hour. Put two of these humongous stars in the same system and their winds can collide during all or part of the orbit, creating both radio emission and X-rays.In 2008, research showed that Cygnus OB2 #9 emitted radio signals that varied every 2.355 years. In parallel, Yael Naz || ", "hits": 146 }, { "id": 11108, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11108/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2012-10-05T13:29:00-04:00", "title": "X-ray Nova Reveals a New Black Hole in Our Galaxy", "description": "On Sept. 16, NASA's Swift satellite detected a rising tide of high-energy X-rays from a source toward the center of our Milky Way galaxy. The outburst, produced by a rare X-ray nova, announced the presence of a previously unknown stellar-mass black hole. An X-ray nova is a short-lived X-ray source that appears suddenly, reaches its emission peak in a few days and then fades out over a period of months. The outburst arises when a torrent of stored gas suddenly rushes toward one of the most compact objects known, either a neutron star or a black hole. Named Swift J1745-26 after the coordinates of its sky position, the nova is located a few degrees from the center of our galaxy toward the constellation Sagittarius. While astronomers do not know its precise distance, they think the object resides about 20,000 to 30,000 light-years away in the galaxy's inner region. The pattern of X-rays from the nova signals that the central object is a black hole.Ground-based observatories detected infrared and radio emissions, but thick clouds of obscuring dust have prevented astronomers from catching Swift J1745-26 in visible light.The black hole must be a member of a low-mass X-ray binary (LMXB) system, which includes a normal, sun-like star. A stream of gas flows from the normal star and enters into a storage disk around the black hole. In most LMXBs, the gas in the disk spirals inward, heats up as it heads toward the black hole, and produces a steady stream of X-rays. But under certain conditions, stable flow within the disk depends on the rate of matter flowing into it from the companion star. At certain rates, the disk fails to maintain a steady internal flow and instead flips between two dramatically different conditions — a cooler, less ionized state where gas simply collects in the outer portion of the disk like water behind a dam, and a hotter, more ionized state that sends a tidal wave of gas surging toward the center.This phenomenon, called the thermal-viscous limit cycle, helps astronomers explain transient outbursts across a wide range of systems, from protoplanetary disks around young stars, to dwarf novae - where the central object is a white dwarf star - and even bright emission from supermassive black holes in the hearts of distant galaxies. || ", "hits": 64 }, { "id": 11019, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11019/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2012-06-28T09:00:00-04:00", "title": "Hubble, Swift Detect First-ever Changes in an Exoplanet Atmosphere", "description": "An international team of astronomers using data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has detected significant changes in the atmosphere of a planet located beyond our solar system. The scientists conclude the atmospheric variations occurred in response to a powerful eruption on the planet's host star, an event observed by NASA's Swift satellite.The exoplanet is HD 189733b, a gas giant similar to Jupiter, but about 14 percent larger and more massive. The planet circles its star at a distance of only 3 million miles, or about 30 times closer than Earth's distance from the sun, and completes an orbit every 2.2 days. Its star, named HD 189733A, is about 80 percent the size and mass of our sun.Astronomers classify the planet as a \"hot Jupiter.\" Previous Hubble observations show that the planet's deep atmosphere reaches a temperature of about 1,900 degrees Fahrenheit (1,030 C).HD 189733b periodically passes across, or transits, its parent star, and these events give astronomers an opportunity to probe its atmosphere and environment. In a previous study, a group led by Lecavelier des Etangs used Hubble to show that hydrogen gas was escaping from the planet's upper atmosphere. The finding made HD 189733b only the second-known \"evaporating\" exoplanet at the time.The system is just 63 light-years away, so close that its star can be seen with binoculars near the famous Dumbbell Nebula. This makes HD 189733b an ideal target for studying the processes that drive atmospheric escape.When HD 189733b transits its star, some of the star's light passes through the planet's atmosphere. This interaction imprints information on the composition and motion of the planet's atmosphere into the star's light.In April 2010, the researchers observed a single transit using Hubble's Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS), but they detected no trace of the planet's atmosphere. Follow-up STIS observations in September 2011 showed a surprising reversal, with striking evidence that a plume of gas was streaming away from the exoplanet.The researchers determined that at least 1,000 tons of gas was leaving the planet's atmosphere every second. The hydrogen atoms were racing away at speeds greater than 300,000 mph. Because X-rays and extreme ultraviolet starlight heat the planet's atmosphere and likely drive its escape, the team also monitored the star with Swift's X-ray Telescope (XRT). On Sept. 7, 2011, just eight hours before Hubble was scheduled to observe the transit, Swift was monitoring the star when it unleashed a powerful flare. It brightened by 3.6 times in X-rays, a spike occurring atop emission levels that already were greater than the sun's. Astronomers estimate that HD 189733b encountered about 3 million times as many X-rays as Earth receives from a solar flare at the threshold of the X class. || ", "hits": 191 }, { "id": 11026, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11026/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2012-06-28T09:00:00-04:00", "title": "HD 189733b Exoplanet Animation", "description": "The exoplanet HD 189733b lies so near its star that it completes an orbit every 2.2 days. In late 2011, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope found that the planet's upper atmosphere was streaming away at speeds exceeding 300,000 mph. Just before the Hubble observation, NASA's Swift detected the star blasting out a strong X-ray flare, one powerful enough to blow away part of the planet's atmosphere. || ", "hits": 356 }, { "id": 10808, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10808/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2011-11-30T13:00:00-05:00", "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. || ", "hits": 82 }, { "id": 10871, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10871/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2011-11-11T09:00:00-05:00", "title": "Swift Captures Flyby of Asteroid 2005 YU55", "description": "As asteroid 2005 YU55 swept past Earth in the early morning hours of Wednesday, Nov. 9, telescopes aboard NASA's Swift satellite joined professional and amateur astronomers around the globe in monitoring the fast-moving space rock. The unique ultraviolet data will aid scientists in understanding the asteroid's surface composition.The challenge with 2005 YU55 was its rapid motion across the sky, which was much too fast for Swift to track. Instead, the team trained the spacecraft's optics at two locations along the asteroid's predicted path and let it streak through the field. The first exposure began a few hours after the asteroid's closest approach and fastest sky motion — near 9 p.m. EST on Nov. 8 — but failed to detect it.Six hours later, around 3 a.m. EST on Nov. 9, Swift began an exposure that captured the asteroid sweeping through the Great Square of the constellation Pegasus. The 11th- magnitude rock was then 333,000 miles away and moving at 24,300 mph, about an hour from its closest approach to the Moon. That exposure gave the Swift team more than a streak through the stars. \"A novel feature of Swift is the ability to go into a mode tracking the arrival of every photon captured by the instrument. With that information, we can reconstruct the asteroid as a point source moving through the Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope's field of view,\" said Neil Gehrels, lead scientist for Swift at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.The 27-minute-long image was effectively sliced into short 10-second-long exposures, which then were combined into a movie. This allows scientists to study short-term brightness variations caused by the object's rotation.The result is a movie of 2005 YU55 at ultraviolet wavelengths unobtainable from ground-based telescopes. For planetary scientists, this movie is a treasure trove of data that will help them better understand how this asteroid is put together, information that may help make predictions of its motion more secure for centuries to come. The press release on NASA.gov is here. || ", "hits": 56 }, { "id": 10867, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10867/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2011-11-09T12:00:00-05:00", "title": "Swift HD Beauty Shot", "description": "Animation of the Swift spacecraft. || ", "hits": 46 }, { "id": 10807, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10807/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2011-08-24T13:00:00-04:00", "title": "NASA's Swift Satellite Spots Black Hole Devouring A Star", "description": "In late March 2011, NASA's Swift satellite alerted astronomers to intense and unusual high-energy flares from a new source in the constellation Draco. They soon realized that the source, which is now known as Swift J1644+57, was the result of a truly extraordinary event — the awakening of a distant galaxy's dormant black hole as it shredded and consumed a star. The galaxy is so far away that the radiation from the blast has traveled 3.9 billion years before reaching Earth. Most galaxies, including our own, possess a central supersized black hole weighing millions of times the sun's mass. According to the new studies, the black hole in the galaxy hosting Swift J1644+57 may be twice the mass of the four-million-solar-mass black hole lurking at the center of our own Milky Way galaxy. As a star falls toward a black hole, it is ripped apart by intense tides. The gas is corralled into a disk that swirls around the black hole and becomes rapidly heated to temperatures of millions of degrees. The innermost gas in the disk spirals toward the black hole, where rapid motion and magnetism creates dual, oppositely directed \"funnels\" through which some particles may escape. Particle jets driving matter at velocities greater than 80-90 percent the speed of light form along the black hole's spin axis. In the case of Swift J1644+57, one of these jets happened to point straight at Earth.Theoretical studies of tidally disrupted stars suggested that they would appear as flares at optical and ultraviolet energies. The brightness and energy of a black hole's jet is greatly enhanced when viewed head-on. The phenomenon, called relativistic beaming, explains why Swift J1644+57 was seen at X-ray energies and appeared so strikingly luminous. When first detected on March 28, the flares were initially assumed to signal a gamma-ray burst, one of the nearly daily short blasts of high-energy radiation often associated with the death of a massive star and the birth of a black hole in the distant universe. But as the emission continued to brighten and flare, astronomers realized that the most plausible explanation was the tidal disruption of a sun-like star seen as beamed emission. || ", "hits": 218 }, { "id": 10795, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10795/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2011-06-10T14:00:00-04:00", "title": "Nearby Galaxy Boasts Two Monster Black Holes, Both Active", "description": "A study using NASA's Swift satellite and the Chandra X-ray Observatory has found a second supersized black hole at the heart of an unusual nearby galaxy already known to be sporting one. The galaxy, which is known as Markarian 739 or NGC 3758, lies 425 million light-years away toward the constellation Leo. Only about 11,000 light-years separate the two cores, each of which contains a black hole gorging on infalling gas. Astronomers refer to galaxy centers exhibiting such intense emission as active galactic nuclei (AGN). Yet as common as monster black holes are, only about one percent of them are currently powerful AGN. Binary AGN are rarer still: Markarian 739 is only the second identified within half a billion light-years.Many scientists think that disruptive events like galaxy collisions trigger AGN to switch on by sending large amounts of gas toward the black hole. As the gas spirals inward, it becomes extremely hot and radiates huge amounts of energy. || ", "hits": 171 }, { "id": 10747, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10747/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2011-04-28T09:00:00-04:00", "title": "Swift and Hubble Probe an Asteroid Crash", "description": "Late last year, astronomers noticed that an asteroid named Scheila had unexpectedly brightened and it was sporting short-lived plumes. Data from NASA's Swift satellite and Hubble Space Telescope show that these changes likely occurred after Scheila was struck by a much smaller asteroid. On Dec. 11, 2010, images from the University of Arizona's Catalina Sky Survey, a project of NASA's Near Earth Object Observations Program, revealed the Scheila to be twice as bright as expected and immersed in a faint comet-like glow. Looking through the survey's archived images, astronomers inferred the outburst began between Nov. 11 and Dec. 3. Three days after the outburst was announced, Swift's Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope (UVOT) captured multiple images and a spectrum of the asteroid. Ultraviolet sunlight breaks up the gas molecules surrounding comets; water, for example, is transformed into hydroxyl (OH) and hydrogen (H). But none of the emissions most commonly identified in comets — such as hydroxyl or cyanogen (CN) — show up in the UVOT spectrum. The absence of gas around Scheila led the Swift team to reject scenarios where exposed ice accounted for the activity.Images show the asteroid was flanked in the north by a bright dust plume and in the south by a fainter one. The dual plumes formed as small dust particles excavated by the impact were pushed away from the asteroid by sunlight. Hubble observed the asteroid's fading dust cloud on Dec. 27, 2010, and Jan. 4, 2011.The two teams found the observations were best explained by a collision with a small asteroid impacting Scheila's surface at an angle of less than 30 degrees, leaving a crater 1,000 feet across. Laboratory experiments show a more direct strike probably wouldn't have produced two distinct dust plumes. The researchers estimated the crash ejected more than 660,000 tons of dust—equivalent to nearly twice the mass of the Empire State Building.For the collision animation go to #10759. || ", "hits": 79 }, { "id": 10759, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10759/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2011-04-28T09:00:00-04:00", "title": "(596) Scheila Asteroid Collision Animation", "description": "Late last year, astronomers noticed that an asteroid named Scheila had brightened unexpectedly and was sporting a short-lived tail. Now, data from NASA's Swift satellite and Hubble Space Telescope show that these changes likely occurred after Scheila was struck by a much smaller asteroid. || ", "hits": 87 }, { "id": 10740, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10740/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2011-04-07T09:00:00-04:00", "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. || ", "hits": 628 }, { "id": 10698, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10698/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2011-01-20T09:00:00-05:00", "title": "NASA's Swift Finds 'Missing' Active Galaxies", "description": "Most large galaxies contain a giant central black hole. In an active galaxy, matter falling toward the supermassive black hole powers high-energy emissions so intense that two classes of active galaxies, quasars and blazars, rank as the most luminous objects in the universe. Thick clouds of dust and gas near the central black hole screens out ultraviolet, optical and low-energy (or soft) X-ray light. Although there are many different types of active galaxy, astronomers explain the different observed properties based on how the galaxy angles into our line of sight. We view the brightest ones nearly face on, but as the angle increases, the surrounding ring of gas and dust absorbs increasing amounts of the black hole's emissions. || ", "hits": 139 }, { "id": 10708, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10708/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2011-01-12T12:00:00-05:00", "title": "A Flickering X-ray Candle", "description": "The Crab Nebula, created by a supernova seen nearly a thousand years ago, is one of the sky's most famous \"star wrecks.\" For decades, most astronomers have regarded it as the steadiest beacon at X-ray energies, but data from orbiting observatories show unexpected variations, showing astronomers their hard X-ray \"standard candle\" isn't as steady as they once thought. From 1999 to 2008, the Crab brightened and faded by as much as 3.5 percent a year, and since 2008, it has faded by 7 percent. The Gamma-ray Burst Monitor on NASA's Fermi satellite first detected the decline, and Fermi's Large Area Telescope also spotted two gamma-ray flares at even higher energies. Scientists think the X-rays reveal processes deep within the nebula, in a region powered by a rapidly spinning neutron star — the core of the star that blew up. But figuring out exactly where the Crab's X-rays are changing over the long term will require a new generation of X-ray telescopes. || ", "hits": 61 }, { "id": 10549, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10549/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2010-05-26T10:00:00-04:00", "title": "Swift Survey Finds 'Smoking Gun' of Black Hole Activation", "description": "Astronomers using X-ray data from an ongoing survey by NASA's Swift satellite have solved a decades-long mystery. Why, when most galaxies host giant black holes in their centers, do only about one percent of them emit vast amounts of energy? The new findings confirm that the black holes \"light up\" when galaxies collide — and may offer insight into the future behavior of the black hole in our own galaxy. The intense emission from galaxy centers, or nuclei, arises near a supermassive black hole containing between a million and a billion times the sun's mass. Giving off as much as 10 billion times the sun's energy, some of these active galactic nuclei (AGN) — a class that includes quasars and blazars — are the most luminous objects in the universe. || ", "hits": 101 }, { "id": 3702, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3702/", "result_type": "Visualization", "release_date": "2010-04-19T11:00:00-04:00", "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. || ", "hits": 67 }, { "id": 10590, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10590/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2010-04-19T11:00:00-04:00", "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. || ", "hits": 160 }, { "id": 10561, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10561/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2010-01-27T13:00:00-05:00", "title": "Central Engine Supernova", "description": "In March 2009, NASA's Swift observed the supernova SN 2009bb in the spiral galaxy NGC 3278. The explosion is apparent in visible light, but not at ultraviolet and X-ray energies, and satellites recorded no gamma-ray burst. Nevertheless, particle jets reaching 85 percent the speed of light accompanied the explosion. Astronomers believe these jets are powered by a \"central engine\" — likely a newborn black hole at the star's center, a scenario that also fits most gamma-ray bursts. || ", "hits": 118 }, { "id": 10543, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10543/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2010-01-26T00:00:00-05:00", "title": "Neutron Star Merge", "description": "Binary systems containing neutron stars are born when the cores of two orbiting stars collapse in supernova explosions. Neutron stars pack the mass of our sun into the size of a city. They are so dense and packed so tightly that the boundaries atoms nuclei disappear. In such systems, Einstein's theory of general relativity predicts that neutron stars emit gravitational radiation, ripples of space-time. This causes the orbits to shrink and gradually brings the neutron stars closer together. Shown here is such a system after about 1 billion years, when two equal-mass neutron whirl around each other at 60,000 times a minute. The stars merge in a few milliseconds, sending out a burst of gravitational waves and a brief, intense gamma-ray burst. || ", "hits": 473 }, { "id": 10485, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10485/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2009-09-16T09:40:00-04:00", "title": "Swift's UV portrait of the Andromeda Galaxy", "description": "NASA's Swift satellite has acquired the highest-resolution view of the neighboring spiral galaxy M31. Also known as the Andromeda Galaxy, M31 is the largest and closest such galaxy to our own. It's more than 220,000 light-years across and lies 2.5 million light-years away in the constellation Andromeda. Between May 25 and July 26, 2008, Swift's Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope (UVOT) acquired 330 images of M31 at wavelengths of 192.8, 224.6, and 260 nanometers. The images represent a total exposure time of 24 hours. Some 20,000 ultraviolet sources are visible in the image, including M32, a small galaxy in orbit around M31. Dense clusters of hot, young, blue stars sparkle in the disk beyond the galaxy's smooth, redder central bulge. Star clusters are especially plentiful along a ring about 150,000 light-years across. || ", "hits": 738 }, { "id": 10366, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10366/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2009-02-10T00:00:00-05:00", "title": "Soft Gamma-Ray Repeater Light Echoes Captured by Swift Satellite", "description": "The X-Ray Telescope (XRT) aboard NASA's Swift satellite captured light echoes from a soft-gamma-ray repeater. These stellar remnants, which are thought to be highly magnetized neutron stars called magnetars, occasionally belt out a series of X- and gamma-ray flares. On Jan. 22, 2009, an object known as SGR J1550-5418 began its second and most intense round of outbursts since October 2008. In the following days, Swift's XRT captured what appears to be an expanding halo as X-rays from the brightest bursts scatter off of intervening dust. Multiple rings form as the X-rays interact with different dust clouds. Closer clouds produce larger rings. Both the rings and their apparent expansion are an effect of light's finite speed and the longer path the scattered light must travel. They will be studied to make a more reliable measurement of the distance to the source and to the dust clouds. || ", "hits": 85 }, { "id": 10369, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10369/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2009-01-15T00:00:00-05:00", "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. || ", "hits": 81 }, { "id": 10253, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10253/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2008-09-26T01:00:00-04:00", "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. || ", "hits": 113 }, { "id": 10323, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10323/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2008-08-05T12:00:00-04:00", "title": "GLASTCast Episode 3 - Swift and GLAST", "description": "NASA's GLAST mission is an astrophysics and particle physics partnership, developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy, along with important contributions from academic institutions and partners in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden, and the U.S. What's the difference between the Swift and GLAST satellites? Both missions look at gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), but in different ways. Swift can rapidly and precisely determine the locations of GRBs and observe their afterglows at X-ray, ultraviolet, and optical wavelengths. GLAST will provide exquisite observations of the burst over the gamma ray spectrum, giving scientists their first complete view of the total energy released in these extraordinary events. Beyond GRB science, GLAST is a multipurpose observatory that will study a broad range of cosmic phenomena. Swift is also a multipurpose observatory, but was built primarily to study GRBs. Interviews with (in order of appearance): David Thompson - GLAST Deputy Project Scientist, NASA Goddard Charles \"Chip\" Meegan - GLAST Burst Monitor (GBM) Principal Investigator, NASA Marshall Lynn Cominsky - GLAST Astrophysicist and Education and Public Outreach Lead, Sonoma State University Neil Gehrels - GLAST Deputy Project Scientist, NASA Goddard Steve Ritz - GLAST Project Scientist, NASA Goddard Alan Marscher - Professor of Astronomy, Boston University || ", "hits": 21 }, { "id": 10319, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10319/", "result_type": "Produced Video", "release_date": "2008-07-24T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Swift - Print Still Images - Wallpaper", "description": "From the animation series - a few high resolution JPEG images || print1 || SwiftPrint1.jpg (1440x972) [1.6 MB] || SwiftPrint1_web.png (320x216) [381.5 KB] || SwiftPrint1_thm.png (80x40) [32.8 KB] || SwiftPrint1_searchweb.png (320x180) [128.5 KB] || print2 || SwiftPrint2.jpg (1440x972) [1.3 MB] || SwiftPrint2_web.png (320x216) [327.0 KB] || print3 || SwiftPrint3.jpg (1440x972) [1.8 MB] || SwiftPrint3_web.png (320x216) [381.8 KB] || ", "hits": 46 }, { "id": 20155, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/20155/", "result_type": "Animation", "release_date": "2008-07-21T12:00:00-04:00", "title": "Swift Spacecraft Animations", "description": "Swift searches for Gamma Ray Bursts and stellar explosions || ", "hits": 42 }, { "id": 20139, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/20139/", "result_type": "Animation", "release_date": "2008-05-22T00:00:00-04:00", "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] || ", "hits": 54 } ] }