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Featured Stories

Swift's UVOT acquired this image of Comet Garradd (C/2009 P1) on April 1, 2012, when the comet was 142 million miles away

NASA's Swift Monitors Departing Comet Garradd

Outbound comet C/2009 P1 (Garradd) provided a nice show for skywatchers late last year. Now it's the target of an ongoing investigation by NASA's ...

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Three types of systems, illustrated here, may host Type Ia supernovae.

Swift Narrows Down Hosts of Important Supernova Class

Studies using X-ray and ultraviolet observations from NASA's Swift satellite are providing new insights into the elusive origins of an important ...

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Swift Features

Andromeda Galaxy Pops Up Ultraluminous X-ray Sources

Researchers using multiple NASA space observatories have been studying an object known as an ultraluminous X-ray source in the neighboring Andromeda galaxy.
Swift Finds a Gamma-Ray Burst With a Dual Personality

A peculiar cosmic explosion seen by the Swift observatory on Christmas Day 2010 was either a novel type of supernova located billions of light-years away or an unusual collision much closer to home

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Mission Overview

Swift is a first-of-its-kind multi-wavelength observatory dedicated to the study of gamma-ray burst (GRB) science. Its three instruments will work together to observe GRBs and afterglows in the gamma ray, X-ray, ultraviolet, and optical wavebands. The main mission objectives for Swift are to:

Determine the origin of gamma-ray bursts
Classify gamma-ray bursts and search for new types
Determine how the blastwave evolves and interacts with the surroundings
Use gamma-ray bursts to study the early universe
Perform the first sensitive hard X-ray survey of the sky

Mission News

NASA Holds Media Briefing On Results Of Black Hole Survey

05.24.10 - NASA will hold a media teleconference Wednesday, May 26, at 1 p.m. EDT, to discuss new results from the Swift satellite's survey of active black holes.
NASA Satellite Detects Record Gamma Ray Burst Explosion Halfway Across Universe

03.20.08 - - A powerful stellar explosion detected March 19 by NASA's Swift satellite has shattered the record for the most distant object that could be seen with the naked eye.
NASA Scientists Catch a Unique Gamma-Ray Burst

05.11.05 - NASA scientists have, for the first time, detected and pinned down the location of a short gamma-ray burst, lasting only 50 milliseconds.
Cosmic Explosion Among the Brightest in Recorded History

02.18.05 - Scientists have detected a flash of light brighter than anything ever detected from beyond our Solar System.

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Related Sites

Swift Mission →

08.21.04 - Learn more about the Swift mission.