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
851–900 of 255,900 · All objects seen in the 7 nights
ObjectClassLast magPeakFirst seenLast seenNightsAlertsRel.RA, DecPartner
ZTF ZTF26abxswyp Solar System MPC19.06 r19.062026-09-262026-09-26111.00141.0054, 14.9685
ZTF ZTF26abxsxpi Solar System MPC16.71 r16.712026-09-262026-09-26111.00143.8362, 10.5520
ZTF ZTF26abxsxpj Solar System MPC18.72 r18.722026-09-262026-09-26111.00143.7986, 10.1054
ZTF ZTF26abxsxtn Solar System MPC16.96 r16.962026-09-262026-09-26111.00139.4494, 10.1205
ZTF ZTF26abxsxwp Solar System MPC18.63 r18.632026-09-262026-09-26111.00139.8405, 11.4743
ZTF ZTF26abxsybn Solar System MPC17.36 r17.362026-09-262026-09-26111.00142.2401, 10.7778
ZTF ZTF26abxsyfs Solar System MPC17.27 r17.272026-09-262026-09-26111.00144.0189, 11.2395
ZTF ZTF26abxsyfu Solar System MPC18.56 r18.562026-09-262026-09-26111.00143.7564, 11.1238
ZTF ZTF26abxsyfv Solar System MPC18.66 r18.662026-09-262026-09-26111.00143.4024, 11.3879
ZTF ZTF26abxsyfx Solar System MPC19.10 r19.102026-09-262026-09-26111.00143.8563, 10.9887
ZTF ZTF26abxsyfy Solar System MPC18.61 r18.612026-09-262026-09-26111.00143.8971, 11.0392
ZTF ZTF17aabnipe RRLyraefaded r18.042017-12-172026-09-2658761.00143.6815, 19.2523
ZTF ZTF18aaackol RRLyrae18.44 r17.732017-12-142026-09-2638451.00144.5850, 20.5667
ZTF ZTF18aaacyse RRLyraefaded r18.332017-12-142026-09-2636481.00145.7957, 16.1649
ZTF ZTF18aaajckh RRLyraefaded r16.262018-01-132026-09-2639491.00147.3996, 17.1579
ZTF ZTF18aaajdzd RRLyraefaded r16.762018-01-132026-09-2663931.00147.7818, 18.0247
ZTF ZTF18aaatede RRLyraefaded r17.892018-01-132026-09-2630401.00147.8854, 15.5098
ZTF ZTF18aaatedu EclBinfaded r18.452017-12-142026-09-2611121.00148.3910, 17.2945
ZTF ZTF18aabwmnx UnknownAT 2017hqgfaded r—2018-03-052026-09-2645481.00144.4498, 17.3270
ZTF ZTF18aabwnei RRLyraefaded r18.062018-02-072026-09-2646621.00147.6441, 16.2970
ZTF ZTF18aabzgzd EclBinfaded r—2017-12-182026-09-2610101.00142.6349, 21.1148
ZTF ZTF18aahexle Star18.69 r18.092018-04-062026-09-2610111.00144.2036, 19.3704
ZTF ZTF18aarbifs EclBinfaded r19.072017-12-142026-09-2618241.00141.7861, 20.2810
ZTF ZTF18acefmps QSOfaded r—2018-01-112026-09-2642491.00148.4036, 16.2079
ZTF ZTF18acrdeko Unknownfaded r—2017-12-172026-09-2633451.00142.5409, 16.5698
ZTF ZTF18admhduo Unknownfaded r—2018-11-062026-09-2624291.00144.6552, 20.2408
ZTF ZTF19aacwfhn QSOfaded r18.962018-05-242026-09-26831411.00146.4468, 18.4195
ZTF ZTF19aagrkxz Unknownfaded r—2019-01-302026-09-26110.19144.9438, 15.2281
ZTF ZTF19aaisjzv Unknownfaded r—2019-01-302026-09-2619231.00147.1120, 17.5660
ZTF ZTF19acxmbpk Solar System MPC18.85 r18.852019-12-062026-09-26111.00144.8123, 17.4257
ZTF ZTF20acmgonb QSO18.92 r18.682019-02-122026-09-26841491.00147.7190, 18.7751
ZTF ZTF20actzcaq RRLyraefaded r—2017-12-142026-09-26441.00144.6561, 16.5477
ZTF ZTF21ackkvso Unknownfaded r—2017-12-172026-09-26110.64143.5869, 15.2200
ZTF ZTF26abxsvcb Solar System MPC18.41 r18.412026-09-262026-09-26111.00146.4650, 16.2650
ZTF ZTF26abxsvcc Solar System MPC18.18 r18.182026-09-262026-09-26111.00146.5148, 16.8680
ZTF ZTF26abxsvcd Solar System MPC18.36 r18.362026-09-262026-09-26111.00146.5622, 16.7495
ZTF ZTF26abxsvce Solar System MPC18.80 r18.802026-09-262026-09-26111.00146.4728, 16.7060
ZTF ZTF26abxsvdp Solar System MPC18.46 r18.462026-09-262026-09-26111.00145.9321, 16.6844
ZTF ZTF26abxsvdq Solar System MPC18.87 r18.872026-09-262026-09-26111.00145.8054, 16.6184
ZTF ZTF26abxsvdr Solar System MPC18.94 r18.942026-09-262026-09-26111.00145.2850, 16.8806
ZTF ZTF26abxsvhf Solar System MPC18.40 r18.402026-09-262026-09-26111.00145.3361, 15.3288
ZTF ZTF26abxsvhg Solar System MPC18.49 r18.492026-09-262026-09-26111.00145.7390, 15.9423
ZTF ZTF26abxsvhh Solar System MPC18.68 r18.682026-09-262026-09-26111.00145.8644, 15.7017
ZTF ZTF26abxsvhi Solar System MPC18.83 r18.832026-09-262026-09-26111.00145.5808, 15.2617
ZTF ZTF26abxsvhm Solar System MPC17.31 r17.312026-09-262026-09-26111.00143.5777, 20.6395
ZTF ZTF26abxsvhn Solar System MPC18.45 r18.452026-09-262026-09-26111.00143.2283, 20.2060
ZTF ZTF26abxsvid Solar System MPC17.24 r17.242026-09-262026-09-26111.00143.6945, 21.0460
ZTF ZTF26abxsvie Solar System MPC17.65 r17.652026-09-262026-09-26111.00142.8209, 19.7524
ZTF ZTF26abxsvif Solar System MPC19.35 r19.352026-09-262026-09-26111.00142.8031, 19.2885
ZTF ZTF26abxsvio Solar System MPC17.99 r17.992026-09-262026-09-26111.00144.6354, 16.4581