NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory reentered Earth's atmosphere on November 4 at 7:39 EST over the North Sumatra region of Indonesia after nearly 22 years of service.
The satellite carried an X-ray telescope, a gamma-ray telescope, and an Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope that enabled observations of the fastest and most energetic explosions in the universe with unprecedented detail. A 2018 mosaic compiled the satellite's first one million images from the Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope.
The recent solar maximum accelerated decay of Swift's orbit. An innovative mission to rescue the satellite by boosting its orbit was not successful. Swift burned during reentry.