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
1,301–1,350 of 255,900 · All objects seen in the 7 nights
ObjectClassLast magPeakFirst seenLast seenNightsAlertsRel.RA, DecPartner
ZTF ZTF26abxsvmi Solar System MPC18.66 r18.662026-09-262026-09-26111.00130.0445, 13.1427
ZTF ZTF26abxsvmt Solar System MPC17.46 r17.462026-09-262026-09-26111.00128.2411, 16.4295
ZTF ZTF26abxsvmu Solar System MPC18.90 r18.902026-09-262026-09-26111.00128.8665, 16.6569
ZTF ZTF26abxsvnc Solar System MPC18.98 r18.982026-09-262026-09-26110.99128.7264, 12.0514
ZTF ZTF26abxsvno Solar System MPC19.01 r19.012026-09-262026-09-26111.00132.0394, 11.7464
ZTF ZTF26abxsvns Solar System MPC16.80 r16.802026-09-262026-09-26111.00126.6660, 16.1087
ZTF ZTF26abxsvnu Solar System MPC18.33 r18.332026-09-262026-09-26111.00126.6334, 16.1364
ZTF ZTF26abxsvow Solar System MPC17.65 r17.652026-09-262026-09-26111.00128.6654, 18.8781
ZTF ZTF26abxsvqf Solar System MPC18.36 r18.362026-09-262026-09-26111.00128.7222, 12.9626
ZTF ZTF26abxsvqg Solar System MPC18.86 r18.862026-09-262026-09-26111.00127.8229, 17.4963
ZTF ZTF26abxsvqj Solar System MPC19.31 r19.312026-09-262026-09-26111.00127.8967, 17.7868
ZTF ZTF26abxsvqm Solar System MPC18.71 r18.712026-09-262026-09-26111.00131.8102, 13.8020
ZTF ZTF26abxsvqn Solar System MPC19.23 r19.232026-09-262026-09-26111.00131.5591, 14.1738
ZTF ZTF26abxsvru Solar System MPC18.84 r18.842026-09-262026-09-26111.00126.8588, 16.6099
ZTF ZTF26abxsvrv Solar System MPC18.65 r18.652026-09-262026-09-26111.00126.5017, 16.8975
ZTF ZTF26abxsvrw Solar System MPC19.34 r19.342026-09-262026-09-26111.00127.1031, 16.7606
ZTF ZTF26abxsvry Solar System MPC18.38 r18.382026-09-262026-09-26111.00125.7448, 18.2315
ZTF ZTF26abxsvrz Solar System MPC18.48 r18.482026-09-262026-09-26111.00126.0004, 18.9625
ZTF ZTF26abxsvsa Solar System MPC19.04 r19.042026-09-262026-09-26111.00126.0555, 18.3574
ZTF ZTF26abxsvsb Solar System MPC17.33 r17.332026-09-262026-09-26111.00127.5338, 17.0413
ZTF ZTF26abxsvsd Solar System MPC19.07 r19.072026-09-262026-09-26111.00128.0065, 16.4648
ZTF ZTF26abxsvsf Solar System MPC15.12 r15.122026-09-262026-09-26111.00132.1208, 13.2623
ZTF ZTF26abxsvsi Solar System MPC17.60 r17.602026-09-262026-09-26111.00132.3358, 13.0730
ZTF ZTF26abxsvsm Solar System MPC15.52 r15.522026-09-262026-09-26111.00129.9224, 14.9186
ZTF ZTF26abxsvso Solar System MPC17.48 r17.482026-09-262026-09-26111.00128.5480, 18.1224
ZTF ZTF26abxsvsq Solar System MPC18.95 r18.952026-09-262026-09-26111.00128.2735, 17.4588
ZTF ZTF26abxsvss Solar System MPC19.17 r19.172026-09-262026-09-26111.00128.6650, 17.8081
ZTF ZTF26abxsvtf Solar System MPC18.84 r18.842026-09-262026-09-26111.00127.5243, 15.5205
ZTF ZTF26abxsvth Solar System MPC19.04 r19.042026-09-262026-09-26111.00127.8953, 15.6205
ZTF ZTF26abxsvus Solar System MPC18.62 r18.622026-09-262026-09-26111.00131.4314, 13.0556
ZTF ZTF26abxsvuv Solar System MPC17.21 r17.212026-09-262026-09-26111.00127.3625, 18.2225
ZTF ZTF26abxsvux Solar System MPC18.11 r18.112026-09-262026-09-26111.00127.4551, 18.8574
ZTF ZTF26abxsvvd Solar System MPC14.13 r14.132026-09-262026-09-26111.00125.4932, 17.0406
ZTF ZTF26abxsvve Solar System MPC17.30 r17.302026-09-262026-09-26111.00125.6173, 16.8882
ZTF ZTF26abxsvvf Solar System MPC19.14 r19.142026-09-262026-09-26111.00125.6070, 16.6394
ZTF ZTF26abxsvwe Solar System MPC18.61 r18.612026-09-262026-09-26111.00130.4574, 13.5720
ZTF ZTF26abxsvwf Solar System MPC18.88 r18.882024-03-232026-09-26111.00130.6315, 13.8847
ZTF ZTF26abxsvwg Solar System MPC19.30 r19.302026-09-262026-09-26110.97130.4190, 14.3373
ZTF ZTF26abxsvwj Solar System MPC19.13 r19.132026-09-262026-09-26111.00130.1703, 14.8122
ZTF ZTF26abxsvwl Solar System MPC19.58 r19.582026-09-262026-09-26111.00130.4594, 14.6577
ZTF ZTF26abxsvxa Solar System MPC16.84 r16.842026-09-262026-09-26111.00125.4650, 17.9496
ZTF ZTF26abxsvxb Solar System MPC17.98 r17.982026-09-262026-09-26111.00125.6363, 17.5244
ZTF ZTF26abxsvxc Solar System MPC18.33 r18.332026-09-262026-09-26111.00125.5655, 18.1400
ZTF ZTF26abxsvxd Solar System MPC18.87 r18.872026-09-262026-09-26111.00125.4996, 17.4408
ZTF ZTF26abxsvxe Solar System MPC19.41 r19.412026-09-262026-09-26111.00125.5161, 17.9997
ZTF ZTF26abxsvze Solar System MPC18.99 r18.992026-09-262026-09-26111.00129.6029, 14.0792
ZTF ZTF26abxswae Solar System MPC15.29 r15.292026-09-262026-09-26111.00127.7151, 12.3985
ZTF ZTF26abxswaf Unknown17.32 r17.322026-09-262026-09-26111.00127.4409, 12.2079
ZTF ZTF26abxswah Solar System MPC18.72 r18.722026-09-262026-09-26111.00131.5273, 14.7696
ZTF ZTF26abxswai Solar System MPC18.50 r18.502026-09-262026-09-26111.00127.5414, 12.2619