Telescope looks to go to the edge (BBC) {Swift gamma-ray telescope}

[eppur_se_muova]

By Jonathan Amos
BBC News science reporter, in Leicester

The Swift telescope is about to break the boundaries of our cosmic vision, to see the most distant objects ever recorded, its chief scientist believes.

The Nasa space observatory has already looked nearly 13 billion light-years across the Universe to record the light from a cataclysmic star explosion.
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The spacecraft is set up to catch gamma-ray bursts - the intensely bright but fleeting flashes of very high-energy radiation that signal some of the Universe's most violent happenings.

Once detected, the observatory swings itself to look directly into a flash with X-ray and ultraviolet/visible telescopes. It will also call up other space and ground-based facilities to join the fray.
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more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4886816.stm