New Era in Gamma-Ray Science with NASA Fermi, Swift Missions
A pair of distant explosions discovered by NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory have produced the highest-energy light yet seen from…
NASA Swift Satellite
Swift Mission Views an Unprecedented Change in the Rotation of Comet 41P
Observations by NASA’s Swift spacecraft, now renamed the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory after the mission’s late principal investigator, have captured an unprecedented change in the…
Artist’s Rendering of Tidal Disruption Event ASASSN-14li
This artist’s rendering shows the tidal disruption event named ASASSN-14li, where a star wandering too close to a 3-million-solar-mass black hole was torn apart. The…
NASA Scientists Detect First Light from a Gravitational-Wave Event
This animation captures phenomena observed over the course of nine days following the neutron star merger known as GW170817. They include gravitational waves (pale arcs),…
Astronomers View One of the Most Luminous White Dwarf Eruptions Ever Seen
Using the Swift Satellite Observatory, scientists reveal what was likely the most luminous white dwarf eruption ever seen. Astronomers have today announced that they have…
New Research Reveals Dimming of Tabby’s Star May Be Caused by Dust
Using NASA’s Spitzer and Swift missions, as well as the Belgian AstroLAB IRIS observatory, astronomers reveal new details on one of the most mysterious stellar…
Astronomers Model Extreme Jet Ejections from Black Hole X-Ray Binary V404 Cygni
In a new study, astronomers modeled observations of the black hole X-ray binary V404 Cygni during the most active phase of its June 2015 outburst….
NASA’s NuSTAR Telescope Shows Merging Galaxies Have Enshrouded Black Holes
Using NASA’s NuSTAR telescope, a team of astronomers reveals that in the late stages of galaxy mergers, so much gas and dust falls toward a…
NASA’s Swift Reveals a Star’s Plunge into a Black Hole
Using observations from NASA’s Swift satellite, a team of astronomers detail the tidal disruption event named ASASSN-14li. Some 290 million years ago, a star much…
Spitzer and Swift Observe Microlensing Event, Pinpoint Brown Dwarf
Using NASA’s Spitzer and Swift Space Telescopes, astronomers discovered a brown dwarf when it and its star passed between Earth and a much more distant…
Astronomers Discover X-Ray Echoes from a Black Hole That Shattered a Passing Star
Using data from the Swift Satellite, astronomers have identified the reflections of X-ray flares erupting from a star that was shattered by a black hole….
XMM-Newton Reveals the First ‘Wind Nebula’ Around a Magnetar
Using the XMM-Newton X-ray observatory, a team of astronomers has discovered a vast cloud of high-energy particles around a rare ultra-magnetic neutron star for the…
Scientists Discover a Binary Companion for a Type Ia Supernova
A newly published study details evidence for the interaction between a normal Type Ia supernova and a non-degenerate binary companion. A team of astronomers including…
Astronomers Link the Launching of the Corona to a Black Hole Flare
New observations from NASA’s Swift and the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, suggest that supermassive black holes send out beams of X-rays when their surrounding coronas…
ASASSN-14li Provides an Excellent Opportunity to Study the Environment around a Black Hole
Using three X-ray telescopes, astronomers have witnessed stellar debris being blown away after a black hole destroyed the star. This event, dubbed ASASSN-14li, is located…
NASA’s Swift Views a New Outburst from V404 Cygni
Since June 15, astronomers have been monitoring the ongoing light show detected by NASA’s Swift satellite. This new outburst is from V404 Cygni, a binary…
“Black-Hole-Scope” Provides Insight into Space Directly Surrounding a Supermassive Black Hole
Astronomers used the magnifying effect of the stars to ‘zoom in’ on galaxy PKS 1830-211, revealing very small structures in the distant galaxy. The Integral,…
Kepler and Swift Capture Early Moments of Baby Supernovae
NASA’s Kepler and Swift spacecraft provides new insight into what triggers a Type Ia supernova, allowing astronomers to better calibrate Type Ia supernovae as standard…