Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory

  • Released Tuesday, November 18th, 2014
  • Updated Friday, September 8th, 2023 at 12:00AM
  • ID: 40217

Overview

NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory provides astronomers with a unique tool for exploring many different classes of astronomical phenomena, from gamma-ray bursts and supernovae to spinning neutron stars, outbursts from black holes, and even exoplanets, comets and asteroids. These pages gather together media products associated with Swift news releases.

For more information about the Swift mission, visit its NASA webpage.

Produced Videos

  • 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 Center Music: "Teapot Waltz" by Benjamin Parsons from Universal Production MusicWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available.
    ID: 14408
    Produced Video

    Swift Spots a Snacking Black Hole Using a New Trick

  • 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.
    ID: 14148
    Produced Video

    Magnetic Flip Drives Flare-Up of Monster Black Hole

  • Watch how a monster black hole ripping apart a star may have launched a ghost particle toward Earth. Astronomers have long predicted that tidal disruption events could produce high-energy neutrinos, nearly massless particles from outside our galaxy traveling close to the speed of light. One recent event, named AT2019dsg, provides the first proof this prediction is true but has challenged scientists’ assumptions of where and when these elusive particles might form during these destructive outbursts. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight CenterMusic: "Diagnostic Report" from Universal Production MusicComplete transcript available.
    ID: 13805
    Produced Video

    Swift Links Neutrino to Star-destroying Black Hole

  • Watch as a monster black hole partially consumes an orbiting giant star. In this illustration, the gas pulled from the star collides with the black hole’s debris disk and causes a flare. Astronomers have named this repeating event ASASSN-14ko. The flares are the most predictable and frequent yet seen from an active galaxy. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight CenterMusic: "Ruminations" from Universal Production MusicComplete transcript available.
    ID: 13798
    Produced Video

    Swift, TESS Catch Eruptions from an Active Galaxy

  • 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.
    ID: 13792
    Produced Video

    NASA Missions Unveil Magnetar Eruptions in Nearby Galaxies

  • On April 28, space- and ground-based observatories detected powerful, simultaneous X-ray and radio bursts from a source in our galaxy. Watch to see how this unique event helps solve the longstanding puzzle of fast radio bursts observed in other galaxies.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight CenterMusic: "Jupiter's Eye" from Universal Production MusicWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available.
    ID: 13751
    Produced Video

    NASA Missions Team Up to Study Unique Magnetar Outburst

  • 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.
    ID: 13594
    Produced Video

    A Day in the Life of a NASA Satellite Team

  • 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.
    ID: 13570
    Produced Video

    Swift Tracks Water from Interstellar Visitor Borisov

  • Watch what scientists think happens when a black hole tears apart a hot, dense white dwarf star. A team working with observations from NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory suggest this process explains a mysterious outburst known as AT2018cow. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight CenterMusic: "Curious Events" from Killer TracksWatch this video on the JPL YouTube channel.Complete transcript available.
    ID: 12855
    Produced Video

    Mysterious ‘Cow’ Blast Studied with NASA Telescopes

  • 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.
    ID: 12808
    Produced Video

    Newly Renamed Swift Mission Catches a Comet Slowdown

  • 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.
    ID: 12399
    Produced Video

    NASA's Kepler, Swift Missions Harvest ‘Pumpkin’ Stars

  • 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.
    ID: 12265
    Produced Video

    X-ray Echoes Map a 'Killer' Black Hole

  • 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.
    ID: 12005
    Produced Video

    Massive Black Hole Shreds Passing Star

  • 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.
    ID: 11725
    Produced Video

    NASA Missions Take an Unparalleled Look into Superstar Eta Carinae

  • 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.
    ID: 10171
    Produced Video

    Swift: A Decade of Game-Changing Astrophysics

  • NASA's Swift mission detected a record-setting series of X-ray flares unleashed by DG CVn, a nearby binary consisting of two red dwarf stars, illustrated here. At its peak, the initial flare was brighter in X-rays than the combined light from both stars at all wavelengths under normal conditions. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/S. Wiessinger
    ID: 11531
    Produced Video

    Swift Catches Mega Flares from a Mini Star

  • Edited video with music of the 4k neutron star merger simulation.Credit: NASA/AEI/ZIB/M. Koppitz and L. RezzollaMusic: "Approaching Eclipse" from stock music site Killer TracksWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.For complete transcript, click here.
    ID: 11530
    Produced Video

    Neutron Stars Rip Each Other Apart to Form Black Hole

  • Blue supergiant star to scale with the Sun. Unlabeled.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/S. Wiessinger
    ID: 11250
    Produced Video

    A Trio of Swift Bursts Form A New Class of GRBs

  • Short narrated video.
    ID: 11109
    Produced Video

    X-ray Satellites Monitor the Clashing Winds of a Colossal Binary

  • Short narrated video.For complete transcript, click here.
    ID: 11108
    Produced Video

    X-ray Nova Reveals a New Black Hole in Our Galaxy

  • This artist's rendering illustrates the evaporation of HD 189733b's atmosphere in response to a powerful eruption from its host star. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope detected the escaping gases and NASA's Swift satellite caught the stellar flare.
    ID: 11019
    Produced Video

    Hubble, Swift Detect First-ever Changes in an Exoplanet Atmosphere

  • Asteroid 2005 YU55 whisks through the field of view of Swift's Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope (UVOT) on Nov. 9, just hours after the space rock made its closest approach to Earth. The video plays on a background image from the Digital Sky Survey that shows the same region, which lies within the Great Square asterism of the constellation Pegasus (times UT). Credit: NASA/Swift/Stefan Immler and DSSFor complete transcript, click here.
    ID: 10871
    Produced Video

    Swift Captures Flyby of Asteroid 2005 YU55

  • On March 28, 2011, NASA's Swift detected intense X-ray flares thought to be caused by a black hole devouring a star. In one model, illustrated here, a sun-like star on an eccentric orbit plunges too close to its galaxy's central black hole. About half of the star's mass feeds an accretion disk around the black hole, which in turn powers a particle jet that beams radiation toward Earth. Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/CI Lab
    ID: 10807
    Produced Video

    NASA's Swift Satellite Spots Black Hole Devouring A Star

  • Zoom into Markarian 739, a nearby galaxy hosting two monster black holes. Using NASA's Swift and Chandra, astronomers have shown that both black holes are producing energy as gas falls into them. The object is only the second-known binary active galactic nucleus within half a billion light-years.
    ID: 10795
    Produced Video

    Nearby Galaxy Boasts Two Monster Black Holes, Both Active

  • Short narrated video about the asteroid collision.Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back™ & © 1980 and 1997 Lucasfilm Ltd. All rights reserved. Used under authorization. COURTESY OF LUCASFILM LTD.For complete transcript, click here.
    ID: 10747
    Produced Video

    Swift and Hubble Probe an Asteroid Crash

  • State-of-the-art supercomputer models show that merging neutron stars can power a short gamma-ray burst.For complete transcript, click here.
    ID: 10740
    Produced Video

    When Neutron Stars Collide

  • View of AGN with center occluded by edge
    ID: 10698
    Produced Video

    NASA's Swift Finds 'Missing' Active Galaxies

  • A short narrated video about the Crab Nebula's variability.Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight CenterWatch this video on the NASAexplorer YouTube channel.For complete transcript, click here.
    ID: 10708
    Produced Video

    A Flickering X-ray Candle

  • Video showing all 500 bursts detected by Swift. Some notable bursts are identified.(music only, no narration)
    ID: 10590
    Produced Video

    Swift's 500 Gamma-ray Bursts

  • High resolution layered Photoshop TIFF containing both UV and Optical image layers.
    ID: 10485
    Produced Video

    Swift's UV portrait of the Andromeda Galaxy

  • NASA's Swift and GLAST satellites will work together to better understand the high energy universe. For complete transcript, click here.
    ID: 10323
    Produced Video

    GLASTCast Episode 3 - Swift and GLAST

Science Topics

Spacecraft

Still Images and Graphics

  • print1
    ID: 10319
    Produced Video

    Swift - Print Still Images - Wallpaper

  • 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
    ID: 12980
    Produced Video

    Swift Millionth Image Mosaic

  • On Jan. 14, 2019, the Major Atmospheric Gamma Imaging Cherenkov (MAGIC) observatory in the Canary Islands captured the highest-energy light every recorded from a gamma-ray burst. MAGIC began observing the fading burst just 50 seconds after it was detected thanks to positions provided by NASA's Fermi and Swift spacecraft (top left and right, respectively, in this illustration). The gamma rays packed energy up to 10 times greater than previously seen. Credit: NASA/Fermi and Aurore Simonnet, Sonoma State University
    ID: 13427
    Produced Video

    A New Era in Gamma-ray Science

  • 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
    ID: 12038
    Produced Video

    NASA's Swift Catches its 1,000th Gamma-ray Burst

  • Click download button to select from a range of sizes.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
    ID: 11738
    Infographic

    Infographic: NASA's Swift Gamma-ray Burst Explorer

  • Swift XRT image of V404 Cygni showing the acquired at 10:51 UT on July 2, 2015. The exposure was about 27 minutes. Additional information is the same as above. Credit: Andrew Beardmore (Univ. of Leicester) and NASA/Swift
    ID: 11948
    Produced Video

    X-ray Echoes Create a Black Hole Bull's-eye

  • A rupture in the crust of a highly magnetized neutron star, shown here in an artist's rendering, can trigger high-energy eruptions. Fermi observations of these blasts include information on how the star's surface twists and vibrates, providing new insights into what lies beneath. The subtle pattern on the surface represents a twisting motion imparted to the magnetar by the explosion.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/S. Wiessinger
    ID: 11713
    Produced Video

    Fermi Finds Hints of Starquakes in Magnetar 'Storm'

  • This sequence from the X-ray Telescope on NASA’s Swift mission shows changes in the central region of the Milky Way galaxy from 2006 through 2013. Watch for flares from binary systems containing a neutron star or black hole and the changing brightness of Sgr A* (center), the galaxy’s monster black hole.Credit: NASA/Swift/N. Degenaar (Univ. of Michigan)
    ID: 11118
    Produced Video

    Swift Catches X-ray Activity at the Galaxy's Center

  • An artist's rendering of an outburst on an ultra-magnetic neutron star, also called a magnetar.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
    ID: 11260
    Produced Video

    NASA's Swift Catches an Anti-glitch from a Neutron Star

  • New surveys conducted by NASA's Swift provide the most detailed overviews ever captured in ultraviolet light of the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, the two closest major galaxies to our own. Swift team member Stefan Immler, who proposed the imaging project, narrates this quick tour. All visible light imagery provided by Axel Mellinger, Central Michigan UniversityFor complete transcript, click here.
    ID: 11293
    Produced Video

    NASA Swift Provides the Best-Ever UV View of the Nearest Galaxies

  • Blue supergiant star to scale with the Sun. Unlabeled.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/S. Wiessinger
    ID: 11250
    Produced Video

    A Trio of Swift Bursts Form A New Class of GRBs

  • This video labels the galaxy and supernova, and moves through visible, ultraviolet and X-ray images.
    ID: 10561
    Produced Video

    Central Engine Supernova

  • Swift's UVOT captured the new supernova in three exposures taken on Jan. 22, 2014. Mid-ultraviolet light is shown in blue, near-UV light in green, and visible light in red. Thick dust in M82 scatters much of the highest-energy light, which is why the supernova appears yellowish here. The image is 17 arcminutes across, or slightly more than half the apparent diameter of a full moon.Credit: NASA/Swift/P. Brown, TAMU
    ID: 11459
    Produced Video

    NASA's Swift Images SN 2014J in M82

  • These maps, both centered on the north galactic pole, show how the sky looks at gamma-ray energies above 100 million electron volts (MeV). The first frame shows the sky during a three-hour interval prior to GRB 130427A. The second frame shows a three-hour interval starting 2.5 hours before the burst, and ending 30 minutes into the event. The Fermi team chose this interval to demonstrate how bright the burst was relative to the rest of the gamma-ray sky. This burst was bright enough that Fermi autonomously left its normal surveying mode to give the LAT instrument a better view, so the three-hour exposure following the burst does not cover the whole sky in the usual way. Credit: NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration
    ID: 11261
    Produced Video

    NASA's Fermi, Swift See 'Shockingly Bright' Gamma-ray Burst

  • A simulation of two colliding galaxies (left) shows how their coalescing supermassive black holes can launch the resulting larger black hole (dot, lower left) on a wide orbit. Right: Compare the simulation with this Keck II near-infrared image of Markarian 177 and SDSS1133 (lower left). Credit: Simulation, L. Blecha (UMD); image, W. M. Keck Observatory/M. Koss (ETH Zurich) et al.
    ID: 10082
    Produced Video

    Swift Probes Exotic Object: 'Kicked' Black Hole or Mega Star?

  • High resolution layered Photoshop TIFF containing both UV and Optical image layers.
    ID: 10485
    Produced Video

    Swift's UV portrait of the Andromeda Galaxy

  • Animation of X-ray halo from the flaring neutron star SGR J1550-5418 without overlays.Credit: NASA/Swift/Jules Halpern, Columbia Univ.
    ID: 10366
    Produced Video

    Soft Gamma-Ray Repeater Light Echoes Captured by Swift Satellite

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