Comparing Data from Telescopic X-Ray Instruments: Can We Trust All Satellites?

In astronomy and astrophysics, X-ray emissions from cosmic entities aid in revealing what type of sources they emanate from. Swift, NASA’s latest X-ray satellite, has not been operating at its intended configurations. The satellite is experiencing difficulties maintaining a stable temperature in its charge capture device. This research intends to determine if this complication causes discrepancies in Swift’s collected data by using gamma-ray burst data. Gamma-ray bursts are excellent comparison candidates due to their brightness and fluctuations. We compared archived data of GRB 130427A and GRB 090423A from Swift and the European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton observatory. Next, we reduced the data and produced the respective spectra. We then analyzed and compared the spectra to one another to find any discrepancies. We have determined, based on data analysis of the spectra, that Swift is working properly despite the cooling malfunction.