The Swift gamma-ray burst explorer was launched into low earth orbit on 24 November 2004. It was developed by teams in the USA, UK and Italy, with contributions from Germany and Japan. Swift incorporates a sensitive wide-area gamma-ray burst detector (the Burst Alert Telescope, BAT) and two narrow-field telescopes – the X-ray telescope (XRT) and the UV/optical telescope (UVOT). Most importantly, these instruments are mounted on a spacecraft capable of auton-omously slewing onto newly discovered GRBs within a minute or so of their detection by the BAT. This novel combination of facilities has led to an explosion of new knowledge in the relatively young gamma-ray burst (GRB) field. In addition, the rapid-reaction nature of the observation scheduling required due to the unpredictable nature of GRBs has led to an observatory-like system with a unique ability to respond to other celestial events within a day or even less. Combined with the availability of the data to all within a few hours, this enables observations to be efficiently tuned to the behaviour of the sources observed. In Swift we have a fabulous multi-wavelength, rapid and flexible response high energy astrophysics observatory available to all.
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