News
Swift Mission Nabs Its First Distance Measurement to Star Explosion The NASA-led Swift mission has measured the distance to two gamma-ray bursts -- back to back, from opposite parts of the sky -- and both were from over nine billion light years away, unleashed billions of years before the Sun and Earth formed.These represent the mission's first direct distance, or redshift, measurements, its latest milestone since being launched in November 2004. The distances were attained with Swift's Ultraviolet/OpticalTelescope (UVOT).The Swift science team said that these types of distance measurements will become routine, allowing scientists to create a map to understand where, when and how these brilliant, fleeting bursts of light are created.
|