Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory

Astronomers Catch Unprecedented Features at Brink of Active Black Hole

January 13, 2025 NeRD

International teams of astronomers monitoring a supermassive black hole in the heart of a distant galaxy have detected features never seen before using data from NASA missions and other facilities. The features include the launch of a plasma jet moving at nearly one-third the speed of light and unusual, rapid X-ray fluctuations likely arising from near the very edge of the black hole. Radio images of 1ES 1927+654 reveal emerging structures that appear to be jets of plasma erupting from both sides of the galaxy’s central black hole following a…

NASA’s Swift Temporarily Suspends Science Operations

March 18, 2024 NeRD

1 min read NASA’s Swift Temporarily Suspends Science Operations Swift, illustrated here, is a collaboration between NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, Penn State in University Park, the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, and Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems in Dulles, Virginia. Other partners include the University of Leicester and Mullard Space Science Laboratory in the United Kingdom, Brera Observatory in Italy, and the Italian Space Agency. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center On March 15, NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory entered into safe mode, temporarily suspending science…