The Swift Gamma-ray Burst Explorer: Early Views into Black-hole Creation

This viewgraph presentation reviews the discovery of Gamma-ray Bursts (GRBs) in the 1960's and early 1970's, and the characteristics of GRBs. Theoretical predictions and explanations are reviewed. The first observation of a GRB by the Beppo-SAX is discussed, and then the need develop a Gamma Ray Burst detector with a larger field of view, that has rapid follow-up capabilities and has the ability to rapidly get localized positions to the ground. The Swift instruments (i.e., the Burst Alert Telescope (BAT), the X-Ray Telescope (XRT) and the UV/Optical Telescope (UVOT)) are shown and described. The scenario for observing of GRBs is reviewed. Many charts of the some of the GRBs data and GRB spectra are shown.