The Swift Ultra‐Violet/Optical Telescope (UVOT) Available to Purchase

The Ultra‐Violet/Optical Telescope (UVOT), one of three telescopes to fly on the Swift Gamma‐ray Burst Observatory, is capable of detecting the early UV/optical photons and performing long‐term UV/optical observations of GRB afterglows. The UVOT is a Ritchey‐Chretien telescope with MCP intensified CCD detectors which operate in either a photon‐timing or an imaging mode while providing sub‐arcsecond resolution. A filter wheel accommodates broadband UV and visual filters for photometric studies including determination of photometric redshifts. UV and visual grisms for low‐resolution spectroscopy are also housed in the filter wheel. We present a brief overview of the UVOT, calibration results, and science to be carried out.