Related papers: Swift for blazars
The Advanced LIGO observatory recently reported the first direct detection of gravitational waves (GW) which triggered ALIGO on 2015 September 14. We report on observations taken with the Swift satellite two days after the trigger. No new…
Almost the totality of the bright foreground sources in the WMAP CMB maps are blazars, a class of sources that show usually also X-ray emission. However, 23 objects in a flux-limited sample of 140 blazars of the WMAP catalog (first year)…
We report on two epochs of simultaneous near-infrared (IR) and X-ray observations with a sub-second time resolution of the low mass X-ray binary black hole candidate Swift J1753.5--0127 during its long 2005--2016 outburst. Data were…
The UV/Optical Telescope (UVOT) is one of three instruments flying aboard the Swift Gamma-ray Observatory. It is designed to capture the early (approximately 1 minute) UV and optical photons from the afterglow of gamma-ray bursts in the…
Exploring dark matter via observations of extreme astrophysical environments -- defined here as heavy compact objects such as white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes, as well as supernovae and compact object merger events -- has been a…
Short gamma-ray bursts (SGRBs) observed by {\it Swift} are potentially revealing the first insight into cataclysmic compact object mergers. To ultimately acquire a fundamental understanding of these events requires pan-spectral observations…
Blazars are active galactic nuclei with relativistic jets pointed almost directly at Earth. Blazars are characterized by strong, apparently stochastic flux variability at virtually all observed wavelengths and timescales, from minutes to…
Wind-fed supergiant X-ray binaries are precious laboratories not only to study accretion under extreme gravity and magnetic field conditions, but also to probe still highly debated properties of massive star winds. These includes the…
The uncharted territory of the high-redshift ($z\gtrsim3$) Universe holds the key to understand the evolution of quasars. In an attempt to identify the most extreme members of the quasar population, i.e., blazars, we have carried out a…
We present an overview of our Supergiant Fast X-ray Transients (SFXT) project, that started in 2007, by highlighting the unique observational contribution Swift is giving to this exciting new field. By means of outburst detection with…
BRITE-Constellation is devoted to high-precision optical photometric monitoring of bright stars, distributed all over the Milky Way, in red and/or blue passbands. Photometry from space avoids the turbulent and absorbing terrestrial…
X-ray observations of galaxies have grown from a curiosity into a full-fledged field of astronomy. These observations provide unique information on black holes, binary stars, and the hot phase of the ISM, which can be used to constrain the…
We have not identified for sure what is the mechanism launching, accelerating and collimating relativistic jets. The two most likely possibilities are the gravitational energy of the accreting matter or the rotational energy of a spinning…
The approach of Observational Astronomy is mainly aimed at the construction of larger aperture telescopes, more sensitive detectors and broader wavelength coverage. Certainly fruitful, this approach turns out to be not completely fulfilling…
Swift has initiated a new era of understanding the extremes of active galactic nuclei (AGN) variability, their drivers and underlying physics. This is based on its rapid response, high sensitivity, good spatial resolution, and its ability…
The TeV extragalactic sky is dominated by blazars, radio-loud active galactic nuclei with a relativistic jet pointing towards the Earth. Blazars show variability that can be quite exceptional both in terms of flux (orders of magnitude of…
High-$z$ blazars (z $\geq 2.5$) are the most powerful class of persistent $\gamma$-ray sources in the Universe. These objects possess the highest jet powers and luminosities and have black hole masses often in excess of $10^9$ solar masses.…
The Advanced X-ray Imaging Satellite (AXIS) promises revolutionary science in the X-ray and multi-messenger time domain. AXIS will leverage excellent spatial resolution (<1.5 arcsec), sensitivity (80x that of Swift), and a large collecting…
The most recent all-sky surveys performed with the INTEGRAL and SWIFT satellites allowed the detection of more than 1500 sources in hard X-rays above 20 keV. About one quarter of them has no obvious counterpart at other wavelengths and…
The dwarf spheroidal satellite galaxies of the Milky Way are some of the most dark-matter-dominated objects known. Due to their proximity, high dark matter content, and lack of astrophysical backgrounds, dwarf spheroidal galaxies are widely…