Galactic "Cookie Monster"...

New Scientist: Artist Illustration

"A giant black hole has been caught with its hand in the proverbial cookie jar, in the earliest stages of ripping apart and consuming a star.

 

"On 28 March, NASA's Swift telescope detected several bright bursts of X-rays coming from a patch of the sky where no X-rays had been detected before."

 

MISSION OVERVIEW

 

Swift is a first-of-its-kind multi-wavelength observatory dedicated to the study of gamma-ray burst (GRB) science. Its three instruments will work together to observe GRBs and afterglows in the gamma ray, X-ray, ultraviolet, and optical wavebands. The main mission objectives for Swift are to:

• Determine the origin of gamma-ray bursts
• Classify gamma-ray bursts and search for new types
• Determine how the blastwave evolves and interacts with the surroundings
• Use gamma-ray bursts to study the early universe
• Perform the first sensitive hard X-ray survey of the sky

 

NASA: Swift Telescope page
New Scientist: Black hole caught grabbing a starry treat