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
1,401–1,450 of 255,900 · All objects seen in the 7 nights
ObjectClassLast magPeakFirst seenLast seenNightsAlertsRel.RA, DecPartner
ZTF ZTF20aaicpmw QSOfaded r—2020-01-052026-09-2616231.00143.5513, 44.8669
ZTF ZTF20acmgmsq QSOfaded r—2020-09-152026-09-2627541.00142.8848, 43.9511
ZTF ZTF21aahonxx Unknownfaded r—2020-01-052026-09-26331.00142.5337, 42.8033
ZTF ZTF21aapzlqe QSO19.30 r19.302020-01-052026-09-26111.00142.1919, 42.4292
ZTF ZTF26abxsvrc Solar System candidate18.66 r18.662026-09-262026-09-26110.07141.3152, 45.7636
ZTF ZTF26abxswau Unknownfaded r—2026-09-262026-09-26110.98144.2549, 41.3729
ZTF ZTF17aabiovo Unknownfaded r—2017-12-172026-09-26110.80138.9940, 36.0952
ZTF ZTF18aaabycj RRLyraefaded r15.442018-01-112026-09-2619291.00136.5002, 39.4662
ZTF ZTF18aaadlpa XrayBinfaded r15.712018-01-112026-09-2647831.00133.5584, 39.0935
ZTF ZTF18aaaikzp RRLyraefaded r18.932018-01-112026-09-2610121.00134.8926, 37.1983
ZTF ZTF18aaanged Seyfert1faded r18.272018-01-142026-09-2641701.00135.0333, 36.7695
ZTF ZTF18aacqlff QSOfaded r19.882018-11-022026-09-2629631.00136.4389, 37.2927
ZTF ZTF18aacszui QSOfaded r19.962018-11-052026-09-2619221.00133.5132, 37.5101
ZTF ZTF18aactgid LINERfaded r—2018-11-132026-09-26111.00133.6865, 34.8549
ZTF ZTF18aacvlbv QSOfaded r19.072019-09-302026-09-2635581.00133.7372, 33.7205
ZTF ZTF18aadamqq Unknownfaded r—2017-11-212026-09-26110.14138.7636, 36.0833
ZTF ZTF18aadamuy Unknownfaded r—2018-11-202026-09-26110.99138.7610, 36.1431
ZTF ZTF18aadamwi Starfaded r—2018-11-202026-09-26110.88138.5831, 36.0101
ZTF ZTF18aadbepg Unknownfaded r—2021-11-092026-09-26110.86136.4377, 39.0791
ZTF ZTF18aadbffd QSOfaded r19.722018-11-082026-09-2633691.00135.9208, 39.2860
ZTF ZTF18aadbrrn Seyfert1faded r17.732018-11-082026-09-26521161.00136.0971, 40.1180
ZTF ZTF18aaddnes QSOfaded r18.752018-10-062026-09-2622361.00137.3073, 37.9930
ZTF ZTF18aadfmah Unknownfaded r—2018-11-132026-09-26110.66136.5599, 37.3026
ZTF ZTF18aadgbcq Unknown19.30 r19.302018-11-092026-09-26110.92137.2504, 40.1317
ZTF ZTF18aadhxzl Unknownfaded r—2017-10-282026-09-26110.71135.4363, 34.8378
ZTF ZTF18aadhyee Seyfert117.07 r17.052018-04-092026-09-2642791.00134.6196, 34.3956
ZTF ZTF18aadishf Unknownfaded r—2018-11-132026-09-26110.98134.0105, 34.5191
ZTF ZTF18aadivie QSOfaded r19.182019-10-032026-09-2641711.00133.5739, 37.9598
ZTF ZTF18aadkkbu QSOfaded r18.152018-11-172026-09-2639591.00134.0759, 33.8452
ZTF ZTF18aadknhg Unknownfaded r—2017-12-172026-09-26110.79135.3278, 34.4624
ZTF ZTF18aadktew EmissionGfaded r—2018-12-032026-09-26110.99137.5449, 37.2651
ZTF ZTF18aadmuja Seyfert1faded r19.142018-04-092026-09-2617221.00136.7269, 39.2486
ZTF ZTF18aagoljh Unknownfaded r—2018-11-202026-09-26110.96138.8166, 36.1632
ZTF ZTF18aawweor Seyfert1faded r18.622017-11-192026-09-2639681.00134.2067, 35.9166
ZTF ZTF18abzzzcj Star18.77 r18.362018-09-282026-09-2618221.00136.4907, 37.3496
ZTF ZTF18accdvse Starfaded r17.112018-11-022026-09-26220.65136.4894, 37.2745
ZTF ZTF18acicrzu Unknownfaded r—2018-11-122026-09-26110.98138.6490, 36.1175
ZTF ZTF18adrkclo Unknownfaded r—2018-11-202026-09-26110.99138.8306, 36.3297
ZTF ZTF19aafyhqz Unknownfaded r—2017-12-172026-09-26110.68138.7740, 36.2386
ZTF ZTF19aamhebx EclBin16.69 r16.692018-01-112026-09-26110.97136.8248, 40.2890
ZTF ZTF19aaohebc QSO18.74 r18.622018-11-082026-09-2628501.00137.6233, 40.1257
ZTF ZTF19abyjocx QSO19.45 r19.382018-11-052026-09-2630451.00133.8594, 38.9833
ZTF ZTF20aadwmiq QSO19.33 r19.242019-12-102026-09-2628461.00134.2501, 35.5761
ZTF ZTF22aacgcst QSO19.21 r19.212021-11-192026-09-264101.00137.2991, 38.6538
ZTF ZTF26abxsvfl Solar System MPC19.33 r19.332026-09-262026-09-26110.98133.8706, 37.0083
ZTF ZTF26abxsvkv Solar System candidate19.10 r19.102026-09-262026-09-26110.16134.9981, 39.1907
ZTF ZTF26abxsvtw Solar System MPC17.86 r17.862026-09-262026-09-26111.00133.6558, 39.5434
ZTF ZTF26abxswhs Solar System MPC18.18 r18.182026-09-262026-09-26111.00141.0835, 36.0224
ZTF ZTF26abxsxgr Solar System MPC19.56 r19.562026-09-262026-09-26111.00134.1360, 35.8794
ZTF ZTF26abxsydr Solar System candidate18.51 r18.512026-09-262026-09-26110.79134.6066, 36.4688