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. Transients the two surveys miss, reported by others to the Transient Name Server, are here too.

Sources

  • ZTF and Rubin: objects the surveys alerted on. Each detection is an alert, with the broker's classification, a reliability score and three image cutouts.
  • TNS: transients reported to the Transient Name Server that neither survey alerted on, among them nearly every bright one south of −30°, which ZTF cannot see. Each detection is a report: the magnitudes reported to TNS (the discovery, and any later ones), each in its reporter's filter, then ATLAS's measurements (c and o bands) for two months while it is brighter than 19. Reported by names the surveys (ATLAS, GOTO, Pan-STARRS, …). When ZTF or Rubin later alerts on one, it becomes their object.
  • CBAT: reports on the Central Bureau's Transient Object Confirmation Page that neither the surveys nor TNS have, mostly bright Galactic novae (PNV J…) and dwarf novae in outburst (TCP J…). An object that matches a TOCP entry shows its designation.
  • A TNS type (SN Ia, Nova, AGN, …) decides an object's class whoever saw it; without one, the broker's label does.
  • An object is active while it has detections in the window. A TNS or CBAT object ATLAS does not measure (fainter than 19, older than two months, or not yet measured) is active only while the window holds its last report, so it leaves the short windows a week later.

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

Data credits

Fink: ZTF and Rubin alerts: classifications, light curves and cutouts
Möller et al. 2021, MNRAS 501, 3272; ZTF (Bellm et al. 2019) and the Vera C. Rubin Observatory LSST.
Transient Name Server (TNS): names, types and discovery reports of transients from every survey
The IAU Transient Name Server, operated by the Weizmann Institute of Science; reports by the surveys named on each object.
CBAT: the Transient Object Confirmation Page: bright novae and other transients reported to the Central Bureau
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams, Transient Object Confirmation Page (TOCP).
ATLAS: forced photometry of TNS objects, from the ATLAS forced-photometry server
Tonry et al. 2018, PASP 130, 064505; Smith et al. 2020, PASP 132, 085002; Shingles et al. 2021, TNS AstroNote 2021-7.
CDS, Strasbourg: sky imagery (HiPS), finder charts (hips2fits) and name resolution (Sesame)
This research has made use of the CDS services, Strasbourg Astronomical Observatory, France.

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
Source
Bucket
Clear
1–50 of 214,516 · All objects seen in the 7 nights
ObjectClassLast magRisePeakFirst seenLast seenNightsDetectionsRel.RA, DecPartner
TNS AT 2026adga Unknown19.14 L—19.142026-09-292026-09-2911—55.0081, -44.7286
TNS AT 2026adfz Unknown18.47 L—18.472026-09-292026-09-2911—49.2876, -30.9811
TNS AT 2026adfy Unknown18.38 L—18.382026-09-292026-09-2911—42.2670, -49.9326
TNS AT 2026zzg Unknown17.94 o—17.822026-08-012026-09-291616—87.0011, -20.9058
TNS AT 2026adge Unknown19.72 L—19.722026-09-292026-09-2911—18.4487, -46.1167
TNS AT 2026adgf Unknown19.13 L—19.132026-09-292026-09-2911—23.5048, -41.2409
ZTF ZTF26abyaorn Solar System MPC14.42 r—14.422026-09-292026-09-29111.00156.0193, 18.9561
ZTF ZTF17aaajiji RRLyraefaded r−0.215.842017-12-012026-09-2917201.00155.2470, 23.5558
ZTF ZTF17aabtooq EclBinfaded r−0.615.692017-12-142026-09-2932411.00154.3273, 19.6015
ZTF ZTF17aaclmfb RRLyrae17.59 r+0.216.332017-11-212026-09-2918271.00155.4615, 23.6516
ZTF ZTF17aacmhoe Unknownfaded r−0.216.362017-10-192026-09-2915171.00151.8655, 23.5081
ZTF ZTF18aaatvka Unknownfaded r−0.217.902019-01-102026-09-297131.00155.5020, 26.0604
ZTF ZTF18aabpvuj RRLyrae17.93 r+0.517.722017-11-192026-09-2911151.00155.3714, 25.2774
ZTF ZTF18acgvlbs Unknownfaded r−0.2—2018-11-062026-09-29240.98153.4056, 19.5005
ZTF ZTF18adiqeqe Seyfert1AT 2019wkm17.95 r+0.417.562018-04-062026-09-29951981.00154.7783, 23.3105
ZTF ZTF20acgybyk Unknownfaded r−0.1—2019-01-302026-09-29110.41155.4056, 25.0354
ZTF ZTF22absxlrw Unknownfaded r−0.1—2022-11-052026-09-29220.97155.4157, 24.9636
ZTF ZTF26abyaotk Unknownfaded r−0.1—2019-04-282026-09-29110.75155.1596, 25.5052
ZTF ZTF26abyaowk Solar System MPC15.62 r—15.622026-09-292026-09-29111.00153.8911, 23.0857
ZTF ZTF17aaaajdq RRLyraefaded r−0.416.932017-12-092026-09-2948741.00149.1122, 15.5226
ZTF ZTF17aaajfrh RRLyrae17.98 r+0.216.192017-12-142026-09-2947721.00148.8932, 17.5485
ZTF ZTF17aaajlnf EclBinfaded r−0.314.262017-12-142026-09-2931371.00146.8697, 12.0163
ZTF ZTF18aaacqlw EclBinfaded r−0.216.642017-12-142026-09-2912171.00149.1920, 14.2737
ZTF ZTF18aaahsiy EclBin17.33 r+0.217.332018-01-132026-09-2920251.00149.4060, 15.8989
ZTF ZTF18aaapyeo Unknown17.97 r+0.117.972018-01-132026-09-29231.00149.5727, 16.9011
ZTF ZTF18aabpvtb EclBinfaded r−0.418.112018-02-072026-09-2916201.00147.6311, 18.3908
ZTF ZTF18aakapxk CataclyV*faded r−0.312.262018-02-242026-09-29681041.00147.7560, 11.8752
ZTF ZTF18aawwphh Unknownfaded r−0.3—2017-12-152026-09-29341.00146.6522, 13.9362
ZTF ZTF18adazgfx QSOfaded r−0.418.142018-11-032026-09-2933371.00147.5121, 18.8349
ZTF ZTF20aaeudjo RRLyrae15.18 r+0.414.962018-11-172026-09-29131.00147.2553, 11.7335
ZTF ZTF26abyaomd Solar System MPC16.10 r—16.102026-09-292026-09-29111.00147.6101, 15.0857
ZTF ZTF26abyaoph Solar System MPC14.37 r—14.372026-09-292026-09-29111.00148.6162, 11.6322
ZTF ZTF26abyaopy Solar System MPC17.34 r—17.342026-09-292026-09-29111.00147.4068, 11.8890
ZTF ZTF26abyaoqx Solar System MPC16.09 r—16.092026-09-292026-09-29111.00150.7832, 13.0259
ZTF ZTF26abyaotq Solar System MPC16.61 r—16.612026-09-292026-09-29111.00149.1210, 14.4474
ZTF ZTF17aabiigi Unknownfaded r−0.1—2017-12-172026-09-29110.92161.3199, 30.4004
ZTF ZTF18aaadmfa RRLyraefaded r−0.415.852017-12-082026-09-2933561.00160.5828, 32.6580
ZTF ZTF18acybgow Unknownfaded r−0.116.602018-12-172026-09-29221.00158.0652, 30.1671
ZTF ZTF22aajgtuc Unknownfaded r−0.1—2019-01-312026-09-29110.65161.1611, 30.3243
ZTF ZTF23aacabgq Unknownfaded r−0.1—2017-12-162026-09-29110.79158.3106, 28.2031
ZTF ZTF17aaaoydr Unknown15.42 r+0.215.372017-12-142026-09-29350.98149.3922, 7.7577
ZTF ZTF17aaaplix Unknown16.63 r+0.216.452017-12-152026-09-2925361.00143.9722, 10.8311
ZTF ZTF17aaaplll EclBinfaded r−0.215.102017-12-142026-09-2949561.00143.9473, 10.5349
ZTF ZTF17aabhcmo RRLyraefaded r−0.517.152017-12-152026-09-29731101.00150.4976, 7.0318
ZTF ZTF17aabtlxt EclBin16.09 r+0.215.472017-12-142026-09-2947631.00144.7325, 5.5901
ZTF ZTF17aabtsyj EclBinfaded r−0.217.642017-12-162026-09-2918181.00143.8506, 11.1433
ZTF ZTF18aaacjba EclBin17.58 r+0.217.362018-01-112026-09-2971961.00144.1050, 9.5766
ZTF ZTF18aaackeh RRLyraefaded r−0.413.542018-01-112026-09-2958941.00145.7649, 10.3170
ZTF ZTF18aaagwdw RRLyrae17.38 r+0.316.742018-01-112026-09-29721161.00145.7611, 8.5538
ZTF ZTF18aaagxag RRLyrae18.04 r+0.417.182017-12-142026-09-2950701.00143.6115, 5.4165