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
551–600 of 255,900 · All objects seen in the 7 nights
ObjectClassLast magPeakFirst seenLast seenNightsAlertsRel.RA, DecPartner
ZTF ZTF26abxsxor Solar System MPC18.38 r18.382026-09-262026-09-26111.00144.8428, 18.1428
ZTF ZTF26abxsxpf Solar System MPC18.23 r18.232026-09-262026-09-26111.00144.5340, 17.3401
ZTF ZTF26abxsxpk Solar System MPC17.67 r17.672026-09-262026-09-26111.00144.3490, 22.2668
ZTF ZTF26abxsxpl Solar System MPC18.67 r18.672026-09-262026-09-26111.00144.1280, 21.9511
ZTF ZTF26abxsxpt Solar System MPC13.60 r13.602026-09-262026-09-26111.00143.6158, 17.5569
ZTF ZTF26abxsxpu Solar System MPC18.28 r18.282026-09-262026-09-26111.00143.3388, 17.7924
ZTF ZTF26abxsxpv Solar System MPC18.85 r18.852026-09-262026-09-26111.00143.2423, 17.1944
ZTF ZTF26abxsxxb Solar System MPC18.89 r18.892026-09-262026-09-26111.00141.4391, 21.0002
ZTF ZTF26abxsyab Solar System MPC18.26 r18.262026-09-262026-09-26111.00142.4303, 18.0265
ZTF ZTF26abxsybx Solar System MPC14.66 r14.662026-09-262026-09-26111.00142.9293, 17.7256
ZTF ZTF26abxsyby Solar System MPC17.82 r17.822026-09-262026-09-26111.00142.5636, 17.5865
ZTF ZTF26abxsybz Solar System MPC18.68 r18.682026-09-262026-09-26111.00142.7084, 17.3738
ZTF ZTF26abxsygf Solar System MPC13.94 r13.942026-09-262026-09-26111.00141.6811, 17.4210
ZTF ZTF26abxsygh Solar System MPC18.55 r18.552026-09-262026-09-26111.00141.4643, 17.2313
ZTF ZTF26abxsygi Solar System MPC18.87 r18.872022-04-302026-09-26111.00141.7402, 17.3903
ZTF ZTF26abxsygl Solar System MPC19.24 r19.242026-09-262026-09-26111.00142.0730, 17.2616
ZTF ZTF26abxsyhn Solar System MPC17.90 r17.902026-09-262026-09-26111.00148.6715, 17.4407
ZTF ZTF17aaajfge RRLyraefaded r16.512017-10-192026-09-2616181.00157.0853, 30.1371
ZTF ZTF17aabiglx Unknown17.78 r17.782017-11-212026-09-2620201.00156.1552, 33.4914
ZTF ZTF17aacmhoa RRLyraefaded r17.602017-10-192026-09-2629431.00154.2779, 33.7000
ZTF ZTF17aacroyd RRLyraefaded r17.232017-10-192026-09-2634651.00153.2306, 30.7045
ZTF ZTF18aaacsup Seyfert1faded r—2018-01-112026-09-2630421.00160.1828, 33.0164
ZTF ZTF18aaaiciz RRLyraefaded r15.742018-01-112026-09-2624331.00159.6743, 31.2202
ZTF ZTF18aaboyan EclBinfaded r18.452018-01-112026-09-2610111.00159.4124, 32.3980
ZTF ZTF18aabzpgf RSCVnV*faded r16.112018-03-092026-09-2630491.00160.0076, 30.9191
ZTF ZTF18aacgwqn QSOfaded r18.752020-01-072026-09-2641921.00152.6746, 36.6538
ZTF ZTF18aacgxpm QSOfaded r18.442018-11-052026-09-26501601.00152.9961, 36.8618
ZTF ZTF18aaeghzo QSOAT 2020vwi18.63 r18.452018-05-112026-09-2636611.00155.8430, 36.6535
ZTF ZTF18aajnhyw Seyfert1faded r—2018-04-092026-09-26110.82153.2630, 35.8565
ZTF ZTF18aaoazbd Unknown15.04 r14.952017-12-162026-09-2618231.00155.5853, 30.4355
ZTF ZTF18adjlunr Seyfert1faded r—2017-10-192026-09-2623341.00155.7996, 32.0581
ZTF ZTF18adjnqtg RSCVnV*17.97 r17.972018-01-112026-09-26110.98154.9022, 36.2645
ZTF ZTF18adownpw QSOfaded r—2018-11-072026-09-2620261.00156.5043, 33.1184
ZTF ZTF20aajqxhk QSO18.82 r18.822019-04-072026-09-2622381.00155.9513, 30.5656
ZTF ZTF26abeqbvy SN candidateAT 2026riz19.11 r19.112026-07-032026-09-26231.00153.5262, 36.9480
ZTF ZTF26abxswqc Solar System MPC17.72 r17.722026-09-262026-09-26111.00155.1662, 30.2879
ZTF ZTF26abxswrj Unknown18.12 r18.122026-09-262026-09-26110.01154.3959, 33.5577
ZTF ZTF26abxswsp Solar System MPC14.56 r14.562026-09-262026-09-26111.00159.7964, 29.9773
ZTF ZTF18aaadmfa RRLyrae16.78 r15.852017-12-082026-09-2632531.00160.5829, 32.6580
ZTF ZTF18aajhynf QSOfaded r—2018-05-252026-09-2624341.00163.0230, 36.6776
ZTF ZTF17aaajgyr EclBin17.62 r17.362017-12-142026-09-26731081.00150.7536, 9.1789
ZTF ZTF17aaajhai EclBinfaded r17.752017-12-142026-09-2654631.00147.4404, 13.1197
ZTF ZTF17aaajhib CataclyV*faded r17.812017-12-142026-09-26821371.00148.2843, 14.9768
ZTF ZTF17aaajhje RRLyraefaded r15.312017-12-142026-09-26571021.00150.1483, 10.6428
ZTF ZTF17aaapllg EclBin16.25 r15.782017-12-142026-09-2654681.00148.3292, 13.5552
ZTF ZTF17aabtppu RRLyrae17.03 r16.092017-12-142026-09-26691011.00147.8010, 13.3208
ZTF ZTF18aaacqhb RRLyrae17.93 r17.752018-01-112026-09-2648581.00152.5566, 10.9815
ZTF ZTF18aaacqmh UnknownSN Iafaded r—2018-01-112026-09-2652691.00149.5255, 10.3594
ZTF ZTF18aaacqwc RRLyraefaded r15.962018-01-112026-09-2648641.00152.6229, 8.8559
ZTF ZTF18aabkkev RRLyraefaded r14.282018-01-132026-09-2647571.00153.3326, 11.1026