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NASA launches black-hole detective

G

Gen Stonewall

Senior member
Source

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) -- The fastest-swiveling space science observatory ever built rocketed into orbit Saturday to scan the universe for violent celestial explosions that astronomers believe represent the birth screams of black holes.

NASA launched the observatory -- named Swift for its speedy pivoting and pointing -- following weeks of delays caused by hurricanes and a three-day postponement because of rocket trouble. The unmanned rocket climbed through a cloud-flecked midday sky.

Swift, a $250 million collaboration by NASA, Italy and Britain, should begin its hunt for gamma ray bursts by January and erase some of the mystery surrounding these explosions and black holes.

Gamma ray bursts are the most powerful events in the universe, exceeded only by the cosmic curtain-raising Big Bang itself. Lasting just a few seconds on average, the bursts appear out of nowhere like flashlight beams and are thought to signal the formation of black holes.

Astronomers theorize the collapse or collision of massive stars is what produces black holes -- so dense not even light can escape -- and that the resulting gravitational energy sends gamma rays shooting out across time and space.

"We think that, perhaps, bursts are the birth cries of black holes and we're seeing these throughout the universe," said NASA's Neil Gehrels, principal scientist.
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This article gives scanty information. Is anyone familiar with this device and how it might work?
 
If there were any justice in this word at all that project would be knows as Project Shaft...

Damn right......
 
Am I missing something important, or are these non-sequiturs?

Nothing posted so far as anything to do with this spacecraft! :frown:
 
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