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
801–850 of 255,900 · All objects seen in the 7 nights
ObjectClassLast magPeakFirst seenLast seenNightsAlertsRel.RA, DecPartner
ZTF ZTF26abxsvlf Solar System MPC18.23 r18.232026-09-262026-09-26111.00146.3506, 8.0693
ZTF ZTF26abxsvmq Solar System MPC17.75 r17.752026-09-262026-09-26111.00141.0508, 14.0067
ZTF ZTF26abxsvnq Solar System MPC19.05 r19.052026-09-262026-09-26111.00140.2038, 12.3791
ZTF ZTF26abxsvqe Solar System MPC18.98 r18.982026-09-262026-09-26110.97142.4457, 13.0400
ZTF ZTF26abxsvqh Solar System MPC19.04 r19.042026-09-262026-09-26111.00142.3627, 13.1271
ZTF ZTF26abxsvsz Solar System MPC18.61 r18.612026-09-262026-09-26111.00146.0446, 9.0273
ZTF ZTF26abxsvyn Solar System MPC18.02 r18.022026-09-262026-09-26111.00140.9294, 12.2651
ZTF ZTF26abxswbe Solar System MPC12.70 r12.702026-09-262026-09-26111.00140.5032, 13.4519
ZTF ZTF26abxswbf Solar System MPC18.22 r18.222026-09-262026-09-26111.00140.9975, 12.9074
ZTF ZTF26abxswbh Solar System MPC18.67 r18.672026-09-262026-09-26111.00140.5274, 13.4701
ZTF ZTF26abxswbi Solar System MPC18.73 r18.732026-09-262026-09-26111.00140.3371, 13.0541
ZTF ZTF26abxswbj Solar System MPC18.99 r18.992026-09-262026-09-26110.99140.4414, 12.7404
ZTF ZTF26abxswbl Solar System MPC15.26 r15.262026-09-262026-09-26111.00144.5474, 8.2713
ZTF ZTF26abxswbr Solar System MPC16.25 r16.252024-12-172026-09-26111.00139.5390, 14.3488
ZTF ZTF26abxswbt Solar System MPC18.36 r18.362026-09-262026-09-26111.00139.5082, 13.9751
ZTF ZTF26abxswbv Solar System MPC18.52 r18.522026-09-262026-09-26111.00140.0191, 14.2876
ZTF ZTF26abxswcq Solar System MPC16.83 r16.832026-09-262026-09-26111.00141.7115, 12.3913
ZTF ZTF26abxswcr Solar System MPC18.94 r18.942026-09-262026-09-26111.00141.4917, 12.1669
ZTF ZTF26abxswgh Solar System MPC14.56 r14.562026-09-262026-09-26111.00141.3452, 15.0733
ZTF ZTF26abxswgi Solar System candidate17.80 r17.802026-09-262026-09-26111.00141.8314, 15.2579
ZTF ZTF26abxswgk Solar System MPC18.30 r18.302026-09-262026-09-26111.00141.6148, 14.8999
ZTF ZTF26abxswgl Solar System MPC18.88 r18.882026-09-262026-09-26111.00141.9346, 15.1919
ZTF ZTF26abxswgm Solar System candidate18.74 r18.742026-09-262026-09-26111.00141.4717, 15.3678
ZTF ZTF26abxswid Solar System MPC18.68 r18.682026-09-262026-09-26111.00140.2528, 13.0958
ZTF ZTF26abxswie Solar System MPC18.75 r18.752026-09-262026-09-26111.00139.8318, 12.7739
ZTF ZTF26abxswif Solar System MPC18.58 r18.582026-09-262026-09-26111.00139.8123, 13.4609
ZTF ZTF26abxswig Solar System MPC17.74 r17.742026-09-262026-09-26111.00142.9962, 12.4011
ZTF ZTF26abxswih Solar System MPC17.66 r17.662026-09-262026-09-26111.00142.7495, 12.3496
ZTF ZTF26abxswii Solar System MPC18.21 r18.212026-09-262026-09-26111.00142.6133, 12.3513
ZTF ZTF26abxswil Solar System MPC18.03 r18.032026-09-262026-09-26111.00142.2582, 12.4378
ZTF ZTF26abxswim Solar System MPC18.25 r18.252026-09-262026-09-26111.00142.4261, 11.9692
ZTF ZTF26abxswin Solar System MPC18.46 r18.462026-09-262026-09-26111.00142.3621, 12.5798
ZTF ZTF26abxswiq Solar System MPC18.75 r18.752026-09-262026-09-26110.99142.6206, 11.9799
ZTF ZTF26abxswir Solar System MPC19.18 r19.182026-09-262026-09-26111.00142.7290, 12.5260
ZTF ZTF26abxswkx Solar System MPC17.98 r17.982026-09-262026-09-26111.00145.9063, 10.4850
ZTF ZTF26abxswla Solar System MPC18.81 r18.812026-09-262026-09-26110.98145.8209, 10.5414
ZTF ZTF26abxswlc Solar System MPC17.89 r17.892026-09-262026-09-26111.00142.4382, 8.7202
ZTF ZTF26abxswls Solar System MPC17.06 r17.062026-09-262026-09-26111.00146.6410, 10.4044
ZTF ZTF26abxswlt Solar System MPC17.14 r17.142026-09-262026-09-26111.00146.2005, 10.4833
ZTF ZTF26abxswlu Solar System MPC18.62 r18.622026-09-262026-09-26111.00146.2229, 10.3168
ZTF ZTF26abxswlv Solar System MPC18.28 r18.282026-09-262026-09-26111.00146.8258, 10.5238
ZTF ZTF26abxswna Solar System MPC17.88 r17.882026-09-262026-09-26111.00144.2655, 10.9877
ZTF ZTF26abxswnt Unknownfaded r—2018-02-262026-09-26110.00143.6803, 8.1874
ZTF ZTF26abxswom Solar System MPC17.66 r17.662026-09-262026-09-26111.00146.4959, 11.1893
ZTF ZTF26abxswon Solar System MPC18.69 r18.692026-09-262026-09-26111.00146.3295, 11.3991
ZTF ZTF26abxswoo Solar System MPC18.80 r18.802026-09-262026-09-26111.00146.2776, 11.0694
ZTF ZTF26abxswpg Solar System MPC18.84 r18.842026-09-262026-09-26111.00140.0381, 15.0343
ZTF ZTF26abxswsa Solar System MPC15.36 r15.362026-09-262026-09-26111.00145.6855, 9.5995
ZTF ZTF26abxswsc Solar System MPC17.62 r17.622025-02-222026-09-26111.00145.3217, 8.9753
ZTF ZTF26abxswyo Solar System MPC18.66 r18.662026-09-262026-09-26111.00140.8549, 14.8810