Transient Explorer

What am I looking at?

Every night the Rubin (LSST) and ZTF telescopes image the sky and flag anything that changed since last time: a supernova going off, a star flaring, an asteroid passing through. Each flag is an alert. The Fink broker classifies them, and this site shows what they are and where.

Pages

  • Dashboard: how many alerts and objects arrived in a window, what kinds, where on the sky, and the brightest new supernova candidates.
  • Sky: the map. Most of what follows is about it.
  • Objects: the same objects as a table you can sort, filter by the broker's label or TNS type, and page through; click one for its light curve and images.
  • Tonight: a planner for your telescope. Pick your site and telescope, and it lists the supernovae, novae and new objects seen this week that are above your horizon while it is dark and bright enough to see, sorted by when each is best placed, with finder charts, a CSV export and a printable list.

Search

  • An object id (ZTF26abvkmbu, a Rubin id, or the first few characters), a TNS name (SN 2026abc), coordinates (35.71 -4.75 or 02:22:50 -04:45:00, add r=10' for a radius), a deep-drilling field (COSMOS), a class (SN Ia, EclBin) or any name astronomers use (M31).

On the map: zoom to go deeper

  • Whole sky (wider than 20°): a heatmap of how many objects were seen in each patch of sky.
  • Region (1°–20°): a finer heatmap plus numbered badges. The number is the count of objects, the color is their most common class, and a white ring means something new in the last night.
  • Objects (under 1°): one dot per object. A white ring means it was seen last night, and a white center means it has been detected only once so far. Click a dot for its light curve, classification and images.

Drag to pan, scroll or pinch to zoom, or click a badge to zoom into it.

Filters

  • Window: how far back to look, from last night to a year.
  • Active / new: objects detected in the window, or only those first seen in it.
  • Class: most alerts are solar-system objects (asteroids). Pick Non-Solar System to hide them and see what else is out there.
  • Brightness (≤ 20, ≤ 18, ≤ 16): only objects at least that bright. Smaller magnitudes are brighter. An object marked faded was last seen fainter than in the survey's reference image, so it has no brightness of its own and counts only under any mag.
  • History (2+ nights, …): only objects seen on several nights, which filters out one-off artifacts.

Observing from your site

  • Your site: an observatory from the list, or your latitude and longitude (typed, or Use my location). A position is rounded to half a degree, and the site is remembered in this browser only.
  • Object panel: when the object is up tonight, its altitude through the night with the moon, the next 60 nights, and a Finder chart with a link to AAVSO's comparison stars.
  • Objects: Visible from… keeps what is above your limit in tonight's dark window, with when and how high.
  • Sky: Observer… shades what is below your horizon at a time you pick; the counts do not change.

Dark means the sun more than 12° below the horizon (18° if you choose). Positions ignore refraction and precession, a few tenths of a degree: enough to plan, not to point.

Classes

  • SN candidate
  • AGN / nuclear
  • Variable star
  • Solar system
  • Cataloged
  • Unknown
  • Low reliability
  • Other

The data is refreshed nightly. Every view is a link: on the map the URL records the position, zoom, filters and selected object, so Copy link shares exactly what you see.

Made by jgriz

Objects

Objects
Survey
Bucket
Clear
1,051–1,100 of 255,900 · All objects seen in the 7 nights
ObjectClassLast magPeakFirst seenLast seenNightsAlertsRel.RA, DecPartner
ZTF ZTF22aadjgpz Unknown17.53 r17.532018-11-082026-09-26111.00131.3900, -2.6676
ZTF ZTF22aadjpwp RRLyraefaded r—2019-03-162026-09-26110.97129.3735, -0.7774
ZTF ZTF22aadkbvz Unknown16.98 r16.512018-11-082026-09-2620241.00127.5768, 3.2408
ZTF ZTF22aadkcbu AGNfaded r—2018-11-082026-09-26111.00131.2648, -0.6769
ZTF ZTF22aafxbie UnknownAT 2022eqgfaded r19.422019-02-262026-09-26331.00126.0742, -0.4333
ZTF ZTF22aafxdxc EclBin18.77 r18.772018-11-172026-09-26331.00131.0774, -2.1773
ZTF ZTF22aajcdrd gammaDorV*13.88 r13.882019-03-162026-09-26220.11131.1824, -1.0810
ZTF ZTF22aajcdre Unknown14.72 r14.722019-02-262026-09-26110.05131.2306, -1.2781
ZTF ZTF23aaaoryi EclBinfaded r—2018-01-112026-09-26110.58127.9471, 1.8069
ZTF ZTF24abhwvjw QSO18.96 r18.962018-11-082026-09-26331.00127.8591, 0.2290
ZTF ZTF24abhwvyz AGN19.29 r18.952024-01-162026-09-265101.00128.7573, 2.1046
ZTF ZTF25abrcjqw Starfaded r—2018-11-082026-09-26110.55126.6518, 0.7629
ZTF ZTF26abxjhqh Unknown19.00 r18.922026-09-252026-09-26221.00126.7226, 0.0255
ZTF ZTF26abxsvgn Solar System MPC19.12 r19.122026-09-262026-09-26111.00127.2475, 4.3186
ZTF ZTF26abxsvtr Unknown16.78 r16.782026-09-262026-09-26111.00129.3005, 3.9413
ZTF ZTF26abxsvwb Solar System MPC19.10 r19.102026-09-262026-09-26111.00128.1442, 3.8993
ZTF ZTF26abxswdz Solar System MPC17.73 r17.732026-09-262026-09-26111.00126.2015, 3.2301
ZTF ZTF26abxswof Solar System MPC18.42 r18.422026-09-262026-09-26111.00126.7943, 1.3381
ZTF ZTF26abxswog Solar System MPC18.84 r18.842026-09-262026-09-26110.38126.1067, 1.1611
ZTF ZTF26abxswqq Solar System MPC19.11 r19.112026-09-262026-09-26110.99132.0692, -0.2106
ZTF ZTF26abxswwb Unknown19.02 r19.022026-09-262026-09-26110.95130.2553, -1.8704
ZTF ZTF26abxswzr Unknown18.47 r18.472026-09-262026-09-26111.00128.1951, -0.2811
ZTF ZTF26abxsydp Unknown19.50 r19.502021-01-172026-09-26110.00128.7845, 0.3571
ZTF ZTF17aaagwis EclBin18.94 r17.492017-12-142026-09-26781371.00132.2513, 22.7810
ZTF ZTF17aaagwok EclBinfaded r14.522017-12-142026-09-2619201.00136.2196, 20.4151
ZTF ZTF17aaagwzc PulsV*14.68 r14.682017-12-142026-09-26110.04130.9061, 19.9366
ZTF ZTF17aaajgft EclBinfaded r16.382017-12-142026-09-26721181.00132.4663, 24.0649
ZTF ZTF17aaaomuc EclBinfaded r15.892017-12-142026-09-2640481.00134.8894, 21.1695
ZTF ZTF17aaaozuz RRLyraefaded r16.962017-12-142026-09-26942611.00134.3351, 21.7048
ZTF ZTF17aaaozvd RRLyrae16.50 r15.702017-12-152026-09-2665941.00132.0150, 19.2280
ZTF ZTF17aaapabm EclBin15.08 r15.042017-12-152026-09-26340.99136.0539, 20.3922
ZTF ZTF17aaapgqc Unknownfaded r18.182017-12-152026-09-269101.00131.4570, 24.7373
ZTF ZTF17aabhebx CataclyV*faded r18.442017-12-142026-09-26891621.00130.1090, 22.0796
ZTF ZTF17aabonad RRLyraefaded r17.242017-12-152026-09-2650661.00130.4817, 22.0113
ZTF ZTF17aabrxlq RRLyraefaded r17.562017-12-152026-09-26691031.00135.4503, 21.8634
ZTF ZTF18aaacjok RRLyrae18.83 r18.492017-12-142026-09-2641471.00136.7984, 19.7172
ZTF ZTF18aaacjzn EclBinfaded r18.302017-12-152026-09-2621241.00132.9760, 22.9145
ZTF ZTF18aaaskne EclBinfaded r—2017-12-152026-09-26110.91130.3396, 19.0073
ZTF ZTF18aaazufe EclBinfaded r18.652018-01-112026-09-2646601.00132.6050, 26.2523
ZTF ZTF18aabsrnh Variable*faded r—2017-12-172026-09-269111.00130.9231, 26.0126
ZTF ZTF18aabyomr EclBinfaded r18.062018-02-252026-09-269111.00131.4578, 22.1585
ZTF ZTF18aaemfag QSO17.20 r17.112018-12-302026-09-2610341.00129.7089, 26.1849
ZTF ZTF18aaepkcv Unknown18.28 r17.792018-11-052026-09-2653841.00133.5461, 25.3234
ZTF ZTF18aaeqhym EclBinfaded r17.462017-12-142026-09-2615181.00133.4684, 22.7079
ZTF ZTF18aaetjza EclBinfaded r—2018-11-142026-09-26110.99136.0527, 21.5629
ZTF ZTF18aaetkpn QSOfaded r18.942019-12-202026-09-26361.00135.9065, 20.9373
ZTF ZTF18aaeuooq QSOfaded r—2018-05-252026-09-2636471.00131.0414, 21.6449
ZTF ZTF18aaeuynv QSOfaded r—2018-05-242026-09-2646541.00136.5150, 19.6950
ZTF ZTF18aaevhvc Unknown17.79 r17.342018-11-172026-09-2656731.00131.1819, 20.9857
ZTF ZTF18aaevitj Seyfert1AT 2017bxhfaded r18.752018-05-242026-09-26821391.00137.3289, 21.0467