Swift's 1000th!

I'm kindof in awe over this news: On Oct. 27, 2015, NASA's Swift satellite detected its 1000th gamma-ray burst! That's a lot of bursts. Swift was launched in November 2004. It's a relatively small and inexpensive astronomical observatory, designed to detect and rapidly target gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). These flashes of gamma rays baffled astronomers for decades; they were discovered in the 1960s, and it wasn't until the 1990s that we finally figured out what they were: unbelievably powerful explos...