Swift
Today I visited the UK Swift Science Data Centre, at the University of Leicester, to learn how to analyse data from the Swift gamma-ray satellite. This satellite observes the universe at gamma-ray, x-ray and ultra violet energies and has three instruments: the Burst Alert Telescope (BAT), the X-ray Telescope (XRT) and the UltraViolet-Optical Telescope (UVOT).

The supernova remnant Cassiopeia A seen by the XRT instrument on Swift CREDIT: Swift/NASA
The excellent folks that were training us spend a lot of their time on call and have to drop everything if the BAT detects a gamma-ray burst (GRB). It seems that they have been especially busy this week as they have had six GRBs to deal including two on the same day.
Posted in astro blog by Stuart on Saturday 14th Jan 2006 (01:13 UTC) | Permalink