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Swift Support and Helpdesk

The Leicester Swift Helpdesk

The Swift helpdesk is located in the Physics & Astronomy Department in the University of Leicester. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions. The UKSSDC also holds 1-day training sessions in the analysis of data from the Swift mission.

Target Of Opportunity Requests

Although Swift's primary mission is to detect GRBs and observe the X-ray and optical afterglows, the satellite is also well designed for observing other transient astrophysical sources. Previous Targets of Opportunity (ToOs) have included supernovae, cataclysmic variables, active galactic nuclei and comets. See the Targets of Opportunity request page for details.

Guest Investigator Program

In addition to the ToO system, there is also an annual Guest Investigator Program. The GI program solicits research proposals from the community with the deadline for submissions being late September each year. The observations start at the beginning of April and the program runs for around 12 months. The GI program is open to scientists at both US and non-US institutions.

Using the Swift Software

The Swift analysis software is part of HEASoft (the High Energy Astrophysics Software).

Extensive documentation on installing and using the HEASoft sofware can be found on the HEASoft web site. Instructions for Leicester users are found on the UKSSDC software page.

Instrument Guides

Detailed walk-throughs of Swift data analysis with the HEASoft tools is provided in the Analysis section (BAT,XRT,UVOT).

Naming Convention

New sources discovered by Swift are designated SWIFT JHHMM.m +/- DDMM or SWIFT JHHMMSS.s +/- DDMMSS