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
951–1,000 of 255,900 · All objects seen in the 7 nights
ObjectClassLast magPeakFirst seenLast seenNightsAlertsRel.RA, DecPartner
ZTF ZTF26abxsxvt Solar System MPC18.88 r18.882026-09-262026-09-26111.00142.6605, 18.1750
ZTF ZTF26abxsxvu Solar System MPC19.16 r19.162026-09-262026-09-26110.93142.9715, 18.4277
ZTF ZTF26abxsxvw Solar System MPC18.58 r18.582026-09-262026-09-26111.00141.4628, 17.2319
ZTF ZTF26abxsxvx Solar System MPC18.91 r18.912026-09-262026-09-26110.99141.7383, 17.3909
ZTF ZTF26abxsxvy Solar System MPC19.08 r19.082026-09-262026-09-26110.99142.0715, 17.2620
ZTF ZTF26abxsxxa Solar System MPC18.61 r18.612026-09-262026-09-26111.00141.2552, 18.6884
ZTF ZTF17aaaivqv RRLyrae17.36 r16.502017-12-142026-09-2653931.00128.9455, 2.0681
ZTF ZTF17aaajfwg EclBinfaded r16.002017-12-142026-09-2638521.00130.0850, -0.1769
ZTF ZTF17aaajgdb RRLyrae19.12 r17.212017-12-142026-09-2657891.00128.2611, 0.6624
ZTF ZTF17aaajgdy EclBin16.97 r16.972017-12-142026-09-2656731.00126.8175, -0.1957
ZTF ZTF17aaajglr Variable*14.10 r13.852017-12-142026-09-2659781.00131.0003, -1.3219
ZTF ZTF17aaapieg EclBinfaded r17.742017-12-152026-09-2652631.00127.5964, 0.0188
ZTF ZTF17aaapiez RRLyraefaded r16.702017-12-152026-09-2660811.00126.4003, -0.5981
ZTF ZTF17aaapjpi EclBinfaded r16.082017-12-142026-09-2642631.00128.3380, 4.2153
ZTF ZTF17aabtfii EclBin14.72 r14.492017-12-142026-09-2634471.00129.4382, 2.3566
ZTF ZTF17aabtlcp RRLyraefaded r16.542017-12-142026-09-2636471.00130.9261, -1.3381
ZTF ZTF18aaabhru EclBin15.39 r14.942017-12-152026-09-26691301.00127.2103, 1.9449
ZTF ZTF18aaabhrv EclBinfaded r16.802018-01-112026-09-26461.00126.6238, 1.8574
ZTF ZTF18aaabiby EclBin16.49 r15.352017-12-142026-09-2645671.00128.3998, 3.9812
ZTF ZTF18aaabied EclBin16.84 r16.632017-12-152026-09-2614181.00128.2167, 2.9754
ZTF ZTF18aaabplt BLLacAT 2020mmx17.61 r16.662018-01-112026-09-26621071.00126.4598, 3.1568
ZTF ZTF18aaacbhp EclBin14.61 r14.612018-01-112026-09-2625331.00126.5222, 4.1274
ZTF ZTF18aaacbjb Unknownfaded r17.402018-01-112026-09-26441.00127.6626, 3.2567
ZTF ZTF18aaacbta RRLyraefaded r16.132017-12-142026-09-2650791.00129.4149, 1.9511
ZTF ZTF18aaaddxq EclBinfaded r16.292017-12-142026-09-26641251.00127.2887, 3.4013
ZTF ZTF18aaafzdp RRLyraefaded r13.712017-12-142026-09-2630391.00128.2376, 2.9842
ZTF ZTF18aabipyf EclBin18.54 r17.722018-01-112026-09-26711001.00126.4479, 1.2160
ZTF ZTF18achympt Unknownfaded r—2018-11-122026-09-26341.00129.4916, 0.7025
ZTF ZTF18achymvo EclBin17.94 r17.432018-11-072026-09-2655761.00131.2021, -2.1273
ZTF ZTF18achymzn EclBin15.55 r15.442017-12-142026-09-2658791.00129.1731, -0.8244
ZTF ZTF18achypez Variable*faded r18.072018-11-082026-09-26771.00129.1158, -0.6020
ZTF ZTF18achyqig EclBinfaded r16.162017-12-142026-09-2658791.00127.1731, 0.2551
ZTF ZTF18achywju RSCVnV*13.84 r13.842018-11-082026-09-2618211.00131.2800, -0.3680
ZTF ZTF18achywlr RRLyrae17.51 r17.192018-11-122026-09-2639441.00131.8491, -0.4260
ZTF ZTF18achzexf CataclyV*faded r14.762017-12-142026-09-26701211.00127.3553, -0.2299
ZTF ZTF18aclodhm EclBinfaded r18.852018-11-072026-09-269111.00128.2208, 0.8022
ZTF ZTF18aclolbl Unknown17.55 r17.452018-11-082026-09-267101.00127.0127, -0.2774
ZTF ZTF18aclpudn Unknownfaded r—2018-11-132026-09-26110.47129.8357, -1.0917
ZTF ZTF18acmated RRLyraefaded r18.532018-11-072026-09-2629291.00128.3591, 0.7149
ZTF ZTF18acmatlk EclBinfaded r16.762017-12-142026-09-2624291.00130.4772, -1.5650
ZTF ZTF18acmatmt RRLyraefaded r16.202017-12-142026-09-26771281.00125.9974, -0.0904
ZTF ZTF18acmauhe RRLyrae17.76 r17.762018-11-072026-09-2644621.00131.1480, -1.6966
ZTF ZTF18acpdbwg RSCVnV*15.99 r15.712017-12-182026-09-2645671.00128.3037, -1.5342
ZTF ZTF18acpdbyv EclBinfaded r18.842017-12-152026-09-2620201.00129.1984, 0.6074
ZTF ZTF18acqpbjd EclBin17.24 r16.962018-11-172026-09-2630341.00133.2566, 0.3858
ZTF ZTF18acrmczl EclBinfaded r—2018-11-272026-09-26560.99131.2920, -0.3508
ZTF ZTF18acsolgp EclBinfaded r19.392018-12-032026-09-26551.00126.1089, 0.3666
ZTF ZTF18acsotbe Unknown16.05 r15.662018-11-272026-09-2634401.00132.9984, 0.5213
ZTF ZTF18acuqrem Unknown17.60 r17.602018-11-252026-09-26111.00128.8376, 0.5349
ZTF ZTF18acuqxxm Variable*15.22 r15.222018-11-082026-09-26111.00131.2165, -1.9263