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
601–650 of 255,900 · All objects seen in the 7 nights
ObjectClassLast magPeakFirst seenLast seenNightsAlertsRel.RA, DecPartner
ZTF ZTF18aavnclb QSOfaded r17.522018-03-252026-09-26982551.00146.7191, 13.3316
ZTF ZTF18aawwqhj EclBinfaded r—2018-01-112026-09-26991.00148.7655, 13.3403
ZTF ZTF18acqfrat Solar System MPC17.05 r17.052018-11-202026-09-26111.00149.3832, 15.0018
ZTF ZTF18acrhasz Unknownfaded r—2018-11-262026-09-2619241.00148.1753, 8.6449
ZTF ZTF19aatfzxm Solar System MPC16.02 r16.022019-05-022026-09-26111.00152.1447, 10.7537
ZTF ZTF20aaknjys Unknown16.60 r16.602017-12-142026-09-26110.54150.1658, 10.6815
ZTF ZTF21aajezgm Star18.80 r18.802018-01-112026-09-26220.75148.4499, 8.2457
ZTF ZTF26abclzte Unknownfaded r—2022-09-292026-09-26111.00146.9027, 11.0285
ZTF ZTF26abxjouw UnknownAT 2026aczn18.50 r18.502026-09-252026-09-26111.00149.3849, 11.9752
ZTF ZTF26abxswku Solar System MPC18.46 r18.462026-09-262026-09-26111.00150.0738, 9.6265
ZTF ZTF26abxswmc Solar System MPC17.24 r17.242026-09-262026-09-26111.00151.0784, 9.6661
ZTF ZTF26abxswmy Solar System MPC18.16 r18.162026-09-262026-09-26110.96148.9752, 8.1409
ZTF ZTF26abxswmz Solar System MPC18.31 r18.312026-09-262026-09-26111.00149.4017, 8.4021
ZTF ZTF26abxswoa Solar System MPC15.94 r15.942026-09-262026-09-26111.00149.5569, 13.4134
ZTF ZTF26abxswob Solar System MPC18.29 r18.292020-10-222026-09-26111.00149.8739, 12.8925
ZTF ZTF26abxswoc Solar System MPC18.13 r18.132026-09-262026-09-26111.00150.2749, 12.7745
ZTF ZTF26abxswop Solar System MPC17.39 r17.392026-09-262026-09-26111.00152.9689, 8.7813
ZTF ZTF26abxswoq Solar System MPC17.41 r17.412026-09-262026-09-26111.00153.0876, 8.8378
ZTF ZTF26abxswos Solar System MPC17.60 r17.602026-09-262026-09-26111.00150.8228, 8.6928
ZTF ZTF26abxswpm Solar System MPC18.28 r18.282026-09-262026-09-26110.00148.8185, 9.5113
ZTF ZTF26abxswpn Solar System MPC18.62 r18.622026-09-262026-09-26111.00148.8586, 9.3328
ZTF ZTF26abxswpz Solar System MPC17.59 r17.592026-09-262026-09-26111.00148.7992, 12.9902
ZTF ZTF26abxswqa Solar System MPC17.78 r17.782026-09-262026-09-26111.00148.7063, 12.9672
ZTF ZTF26abxswts Solar System MPC18.29 r18.292026-09-262026-09-26111.00149.7631, 12.3689
ZTF ZTF26abxswtt Solar System MPC18.56 r18.562026-09-262026-09-26111.00149.5579, 12.6748
ZTF ZTF26abxswun Solar System MPC18.27 r18.272026-09-262026-09-26111.00149.0733, 12.3178
ZTF ZTF26abxswuo Solar System MPC17.47 r17.472026-09-262026-09-26111.00148.9243, 13.9426
ZTF ZTF26abxswuq Solar System MPC17.34 r17.342026-09-262026-09-26111.00148.6398, 14.5999
ZTF ZTF26abxswuv Solar System MPC16.61 r16.612026-09-262026-09-26111.00147.7180, 14.8678
ZTF ZTF26abxswvk Unknown16.73 r16.732026-09-262026-09-26110.59147.2671, 12.3459
ZTF ZTF26abxswvl Solar System MPC18.22 r18.222026-09-262026-09-26111.00147.3534, 11.9829
ZTF ZTF26abxswvn Solar System MPC18.17 r18.172026-09-262026-09-26110.99153.7911, 10.8544
ZTF ZTF26abxsxac Solar System MPC16.19 r16.192026-09-262026-09-26111.00146.6393, 15.4239
ZTF ZTF26abxsxad Solar System MPC17.84 r17.842026-09-262026-09-26111.00147.1346, 14.7999
ZTF ZTF26abxsxal Solar System MPC17.67 r17.672026-09-262026-09-26111.00147.7110, 14.0401
ZTF ZTF26abxsxaw Unknown18.62 r18.622023-11-122026-09-26110.99146.9353, 9.0880
ZTF ZTF26abxsxbz Solar System MPC17.89 r17.892026-09-262026-09-26111.00150.2036, 13.9872
ZTF ZTF26abxsxcd Solar System MPC18.51 r18.512026-09-262026-09-26111.00149.9411, 14.4784
ZTF ZTF26abxsxqa Solar System MPC18.63 r18.632026-09-262026-09-26111.00148.3411, 11.6337
ZTF ZTF26abxsxsd Solar System MPC16.41 r16.412026-09-262026-09-26111.00148.2391, 10.5536
ZTF ZTF26abxsxse Solar System MPC18.45 r18.452026-09-262026-09-26110.99147.6769, 10.5277
ZTF ZTF26abxsxtu Solar System MPC17.88 r17.882026-09-262026-09-26111.00147.5342, 11.4112
ZTF ZTF26abxsxtv Solar System MPC17.89 r17.892026-09-262026-09-26111.00146.8673, 11.0549
ZTF ZTF26abxsxwy Solar System MPC15.38 r15.382026-09-262026-09-26111.00151.5337, 10.0692
ZTF ZTF26abxsyad Solar System MPC16.71 r16.712026-09-262026-09-26111.00149.8556, 10.2492
ZTF ZTF26abxsyam Solar System MPC18.45 r18.452026-09-262026-09-26111.00150.1165, 10.3269
ZTF ZTF26abxsyau Solar System MPC18.84 r18.842026-09-262026-09-26111.00148.6662, 11.0182
ZTF ZTF26abxsyaz Solar System MPC17.95 r17.952026-09-262026-09-26111.00151.2162, 10.2744
ZTF ZTF26abxsyba Solar System MPC18.46 r18.462026-01-302026-09-26111.00151.0847, 10.5546
ZTF ZTF26abxsybf Solar System MPC17.55 r17.552026-09-262026-09-26111.00149.8547, 11.0347