Swift Observatory Launched

Posted by michael on Saturday November 20, 2004 @11:05AM from the wikiwiki dept.

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."

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Re:How often? by snake_dad · 2004-11-20 12:05 · Score: 4, Informative

I once read that GRBs happen about 300 times a year. Hopefully before long we'll have a better understanding of the universe.
The principal investigator Neil Gehrels says they hope to catch about 100 per year.. there should be a few that get caught in a very early stage, which would indeed give a lot better understanding of GRBs.

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Re:How often? by metlin · 2004-11-20 12:35 · Score: 3, Interesting

That's because we are at a part of the galaxy where such phenomenon does not happen that frequnently. It is theorised that as you approach the center of the galaxy the frequency increases.