Abstract
The Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory (Swift) is a NASA medium explorer mission launched in 2004. Swift was designed with two primary scientific objectives: (1) to precisely localize gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and promptly relay their positions to other observatories; and (2) to characterize the GRB afterglow phase at X-ray and UV/optical wavelengths. To achieve these objectives, Swift carries three instruments onboard: a wide-field, hard X-ray Burst Alert Telescope (BAT), a focusing soft X-Ray Telescope (XRT), and a 30 cm UV-Optical Telescope (UVOT). Swift is a first-of-its-kind autonomous rapid-slewing satellite for transient astronomy, pioneering the way for future time-domain and multi-messenger missions. This chapter describes the three instruments on-board Swift, the ground system that enables prompt dissemination of all data products to the community and provides a brief summary of science highlights to date.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
B.P. Abbott et al., Ap. J. Lett. 848, L13 (2017a)
B.P. Abbott et al., Ap. J. Lett. 848, L12 (2017b)
I. Arcavi, Ap. J. Lett. 855, L23 (2018)
S.D. Barthelmy, Proc. SPIE 5165, 175 (2004)
S.D. Barthelmy et al., AIPC 526, 731 (2000)
S.D. Barthelmy et al., Nature 438, 994 (2005)
E. Berger, Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 51, 21 (2014)
E. Berger et al., Ap. J. Lett. 774, L23 (2013)
J.S. Bloom et al., Science 333, 203 (2011)
D. Bodewits et al., Ap. J. Lett. 733, L3 (2011)
D. Bodewits et al., Ap. J. Lett. 802, L6 (2015)
D. Bodewits et al., Nature 553, 186 (2018)
G. Boella et al., Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 122, 299 (1997)
A.A. Breeveld et al., Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 406, 1687 (2010)
A.A. Breeveld et al., AIPC 1358, 373 (2011)
M.S. Briggs et al., Astrophys. J. 459, 40 (1996)
P.J. Brown et al., Astrophys Space Sci. 354, 89 (2014)
D.N. Burrows et al., Space Sci. Rev. 120, 165 (2005)
D.N. Burrows et al., Nature 476, 421 (2011)
S. Campana et al., Nature 20, 152 (2006)
Y. Cao et al., Nature 521, 328 (2015)
S.B. Cenko et al., Ap. J. Lett. 753, 77 (2012)
O. Citterio et al., Proc. SPIE 2805, 56 (1996)
E. Costa et al., Nature 387, 783 (1997)
A. Cucchiara et al., Ap. J. Lett. 736, 7 (2011)
P. D’Avanzo, JHEAp 7, 73 (2015)
V. D’Elia et al., Astron. Astrophys. 619, A66 (2018)
S. DiChiara et al., GCN 30960, 1 (2021)
R. Edelson et al., Ap. J. Lett. 870, 123 (2019)
D. Eichler et al., Nature 340, 126 (1989)
P. Evans et al., Science 358, 1565 (2017)
E.E. Fenimore et al., AIPC 662, 491 (2003)
W. Fong, E. Berger, Ap. J. Lett. 776, 18 (2013)
D.B. Fox et al., Nature 437, 845 (2005)
D.A. Frail et al., Nature 389, 261 (1997)
N. Gehrels et al., Astrophys. J. 611, 1105 (2004)
N. Gehrels et al., Nature 437, 851 (2005)
S. Gezari, Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 59, 21 (2021)
S. Gezari et al., Ap. J. Lett. 851, L47 (2017)
M.R. Goad et al., Astron. Astrophys. 476, 1401 (2007)
D. Haggard et al., Ap. J. Lett. 848, L25 (2017)
J.E. Hill et al., Proc. SPIE 5165, 217 (2004)
A.D. Holland et al., Proc. SPIE 2808, 414 (1996)
T.W.-S. Holoien et al., Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 480, 5689 (2018)
IceCube Collaboration et al., Science 361, eaat1378 (2018a)
IceCube Collaboration et al., Science 361, 147 (2018b)
D.A. Kann et al., Ap. J. Lett. 734, 96 (2011)
D. Kasen et al., Nature 551, 80 (2017)
A. Keivani et al., Ap. J. Lett. 864, 84 (2018)
J.A. Kennea et al., Proc. SPIE 5898, 341 (2005)
J.A. Kennea et al., Ap. J. Lett. 868, 47 (2018)
M.D. Kistler et al., Ap. J. Lett. 705, L104 (2009)
R.W. Klebesadel, I.B. Strong, R.A. Olson, Astrophys. J. 182, L85 (1973)
M. Koss et al., Ap. J. Lett. 850, 74 (2017)
C. Kouveliotou et al., Astrophys. J. Lett. 413, L101 (1993)
H.A. Krimm, Proc. SPIE 6266-04 (2006)
H.A. Krimm et al., Astrophys. J. Suppl. 209, 14 (2013)
P. Kuin, A.A. Breeveld, M. Page, arXiv e-prints (astro-ph/1502.07204) (2015)
A.J. Levan et al., Science 333, 199 (2011)
A. Levan et al., Ap. J. Lett. 781, 13 (2014)
A.M. Levine et al., Astrophys. J. Suppl. 54, 581 (1984)
R. Margutti et al., Ap. J. Lett. 848, L20 (2017)
K.O. Mason et al., Proc. SPIE 2808, 438 (1996)
K.O. Mason et al., Astron. Astrophys. 365, L36 (2001)
J.T. McGuire et al., Ap. J. Lett. 825, 135 (2016)
M.R. Metzger et al., Nature 387, 878 (1997)
A.A. Miller et al., Ap. J. Lett. 898, 56 (2020)
K. Oh et al., Astrophys. J. Suppl. Ser. 235, 4 (2018)
C. Pagani et al., Proc. SPIE 6686, 9 (2005)
D.A. Perley et al., Ap. J. Lett. 817, 7 (2016)
A.L. Piro, J. Kollmeier, Ap. J. Lett. 855, 103 (2018)
T.S. Poole et al., Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 383, 627 (2008)
B. Robertson, R. Ellis, Ap. J. Lett. 744, 95 (2012)
P.W.A. Roming et al., Proc. SPIE 5165, 262 (2004)
P.W.A. Roming et al., Astrophys. Space Sci. 320, 203 (2009)
S. Rosswog et al., Astron. Astrophys. 615, A132 (2017)
R. Salvaterra et al., Nature 461, 1258 (2009)
M. Salz et al., Astron. Astrophys. 623, A57 (2019)
A.L. Shields, R.C. Carns, Ap. J. Lett. 867, 11 (2018)
A. Soderberg et al., Nature 453, 469 (2008)
R. Starling et al., Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 411, 2792 (2010)
N.R. Tanvir et al., Nature 461, 1254 (2009)
N.R. Tanvir et al., Nature 500, 547 (2013)
N.R. Tanvir et al., Ap. J. Lett. 865, 107 (2018)
N.R. Tanvir et al., Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 483, 5380 (2019)
E. Troja et al., Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 385, L10 (2008)
E. Troja et al., Nature 551, 71 (2017)
J. van Paradijs et al., Nature 386, 686 (1997)
R.V. Vasudevan et al., Ap. J. Lett. 770, L37 (2013)
A. Wells et al., Proc. SPIE 3114, 392 (1997)
S. Woosley, Astrophys. J. 405, 273 (1993)
S. Woosley, J.S. Bloom, Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 44, 507 (2006)
B.A. Zauderer et al., Nature 476, 425 (2011)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this entry
Cite this entry
Angelini, L., Cenko, S.B., Kennea, J.A., Siegel, M.H., Barthelmy, S.D. (2022). The Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory. In: Bambi, C., Santangelo, A. (eds) Handbook of X-ray and Gamma-ray Astrophysics. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4544-0_155-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4544-0_155-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-16-4544-0
Online ISBN: 978-981-16-4544-0
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Physics and AstronomyReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Chemistry, Materials and Physics