On Jan. 17, the NASA-led Swift satellite mission detected and imaged its first gamma-ray burst, one of the most powerful explosions to occur in the universe.
The burst was in the midst of exploding as Swift, designed to autonomously repoint 
itself, turned and focused in less than 200 seconds on the event. The satellite was 
fast enough to capture an image with its X-Ray Telescope (XRT), while gamma rays were 
still being detected with the Burst Alert Telescope (BAT).
"This is the first time an X-ray telescope has imaged a gamma-ray burst while it 
was bursting," said Dr. Neil Gehrels, Swift's principal investigator at NASA's 
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD. "Most bursts are gone in about ten 
seconds, and few last upwards of a minute. Previous X-ray images have captured 
the burst afterglow, not the burst itself."
"This is the one that didn't get away," said Prof. John Nousek, Swift's mission 
operations director at Penn State University, in State College, PA. "And this is 
what Swift was built to do: to detect these fleeting gamma-ray bursts and focus 
its telescopes on them autonomously within about a minute. The most exciting 
thing is this mission is just revving up."
Swift has three main instruments. The BAT detects bursts and initiates the 
autonomous slewing to bring the XRT and the Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope (UVOT) 
within focus of the burst. In December, the BAT started detecting bursts, 
including a remarkable triple detection on Dec. 19. Today's announcement 
marks the first BAT detection autonomously followed by XRT detection, 
demonstrating the satellite is swiftly slewing as planned. The UVOT is still 
being tested, and it was not collecting data when the burst was detected.  Scientists 
expect Swift to be fully operational by Feb. 1. 
"We are frantically analyzing the XRT data to understand the X-ray emission seen 
during the initial explosion and the very early afterglow," said Dr. David 
Burrows, the XRT lead at Penn State. "This is a whole new ballgame. No one has 
ever imaged X-rays during the transition of a gamma-ray burst from the brilliant 
flash to the fading embers."
The origin of gamma-ray bursts remains a mystery. At least some appear to 
originate in massive star explosions. Others might be the result of merging black 
holes or neutron stars. Any of these scenarios likely will result in the 
formation of a new black hole.
The Swift satellite's two-year mission will be to: 
Swift, still in its checkout phase, is an international collaboration launched on 
Nov. 20, 2004. It is a NASA mission in partnership with the Italian Space Agency and the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council, United Kingdom.
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NASA's Swift detects possible birth of black hole