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Swift Observatory Launched
IndigoSkies writes "NASA today successfully launched the Swift Observatory into Earth orbit for an intense two year study of GRBs (gamma-ray bursts) to determine whether there is a connection between them and the evolution of black holes. Unlike Earth-bound observatories, Swift will be able to detect GRBs occurring in real-time, and swiftly (hence the name) turn and focus on them within seconds -- before the burst fades forever from view. This should hopefully settle once and for all whether GRBs are in fact caused by black hole activity, or merely starships engaging their warp engines."
You may recall the issues having that song on their site has caused for the Penn State Astro Department...
PSU was a major partner in Swift, and the MOC will be in State College, PA. It's a great place to be right now for GRB physics...
GRBs occur WELL outside the galaxy, typically billions of light years away. Our position in the galaxy is irrelevant.
Are you just making this stuff up?
GRBs are, in fact, distributed pretty much evenly around the sky, which means that they're coming from sources outside of our galaxy. They probably do occur at the cores of galaxies, but not ours. Not at the moment, anyway.