http://www2.keck.hawaii.edu/news/science/swift/050214.html

Keck Telescope Helps Detect First Gamma-Ray Bursts from 'Swift' Satellite
MAUNA KEA (February 14, 2005) Afterglow emission from two gamma-ray bursts detected by the NASA-led Swift mission were discovered at the W. M. Keck Observatory using the Keck I telescope on Mauna Kea. The location of two additional bursts were located using the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile and the 200-inch Hale telescope on Palomar Mountain. A team led by Carnegie-Princeton and Hubble fellow Edo Berger has been able to find and study burst afterglows thanks to the performance of NASA's new Swift satellite and rapid response by ground-based telescopes in both the southern and northern hemispheres.

"I'm thrilled," said Berger. "We've shown we can chase the Swift bursts at a moment's notice, even right before Christmas! This is a great sign of exciting advances down the road." The discoveries herald a new era in the study of gamma-ray bursts, hundreds of which are expected to be discovered and scrutinized in the next several years.

Gamma-ray bursts are the most powerful explosions in the universe, producing more energy in a few seconds than hundreds of billions of stars, yet fading away in a matter of hours or weeks. Researchers believe these explosions could mark the birth of black holes, or perhaps a cosmic collision between two neutron stars.
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