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.
  • Tonight: Subscribe gives an RSS feed of your setup, one item a night with the picks, once the data through the night before are in (or three hours before dark). A condition (novae, rare types, something brighter than a magnitude) leaves nights without a match out, so a feed-to-email service mails only those. The plan is also JSON, for scripts and robotic telescopes. A feed's address holds your rounded site and setup: a reader or email service you give it to keeps it.

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
3,151–3,200 of 214,524 · All objects seen in the 7 nights
ObjectClassLast magRisePeakFirst seenLast seenNightsDetectionsRel.RA, DecPartner
ZTF ZTF26abyanku Solar System MPC18.16 r—18.162026-09-292026-09-29111.00120.4667, 19.5292
ZTF ZTF26abyankv Solar System MPC18.36 r—18.362026-09-292026-09-29111.00120.3915, 19.5020
ZTF ZTF26abyankw Solar System MPC19.09 r—19.092026-09-292026-09-29111.00120.6784, 19.2505
ZTF ZTF26abyankx Solar System MPC19.25 r—19.252026-09-292026-09-29111.00120.3856, 19.1674
ZTF ZTF26abyanlg Solar System MPC18.36 r—18.362026-09-292026-09-29111.00123.0359, 18.1317
ZTF ZTF26abyanlj Solar System MPC18.56 r—18.562020-01-262026-09-29111.00123.3478, 18.0219
ZTF ZTF26abyanlo Solar System MPC17.95 r—17.952026-09-292026-09-29111.00123.8038, 20.1475
ZTF ZTF26abyanlp Solar System MPC18.06 r—18.062026-09-292026-09-29111.00123.3451, 20.7748
ZTF ZTF26abyanlr Solar System MPC18.36 r—18.362026-09-292026-09-29111.00123.2338, 20.0021
ZTF ZTF26abyanls Solar System MPC18.68 r—18.682026-09-292026-09-29111.00123.4028, 20.6268
ZTF ZTF26abyanlt Solar System MPC18.79 r—18.792026-09-292026-09-29110.99123.8149, 20.5154
ZTF ZTF26abyanmv Solar System MPC18.21 r—18.212026-09-292026-09-29111.00122.4046, 20.7466
ZTF ZTF26abyanmy Solar System MPC19.24 r—19.242021-01-102026-09-29110.99122.8135, 20.0170
ZTF ZTF26abyannq Solar System MPC14.65 r—14.652026-09-292026-09-29111.00120.7867, 17.5563
ZTF ZTF26abyannr Solar System MPC16.58 r—16.582019-11-082026-09-29111.00120.4622, 17.1520
ZTF ZTF26abyanns Solar System MPC18.40 r—18.402026-09-292026-09-29111.00120.8861, 17.2850
ZTF ZTF26abyannt Solar System MPC18.96 r—18.962026-09-292026-09-29111.00120.4538, 17.8439
ZTF ZTF26abyannu Solar System MPC18.94 r—18.942026-09-292026-09-29111.00120.7555, 17.3551
ZTF ZTF26abyanqb Solar System MPC16.82 r—16.822026-09-292026-09-29111.00121.8201, 20.1509
ZTF ZTF26abyanqg Solar System MPC19.19 r—19.192026-09-292026-09-29111.00123.7190, 21.6515
ZTF ZTF26abyanqn Solar System MPC19.07 r—19.072026-09-292026-09-29111.00126.8966, 15.4220
ZTF ZTF26abyanqu Solar System MPC19.10 r—19.102026-09-292026-09-29110.98120.8637, 20.6467
ZTF ZTF26abyantp Solar System MPC19.06 r—19.062026-09-292026-09-29111.00124.9327, 16.3383
ZTF ZTF26abyantq Solar System MPC18.86 r—18.862026-09-292026-09-29111.00125.5567, 16.7093
ZTF ZTF26abyanyo Solar System MPC17.11 r—17.112026-09-292026-09-29111.00124.0114, 16.7718
ZTF ZTF26abyanyp Solar System MPC18.19 r—18.192026-09-292026-09-29111.00124.0533, 16.2294
ZTF ZTF26abyanyq Solar System MPC18.28 r—18.282026-09-292026-09-29111.00124.4764, 16.3093
ZTF ZTF26abyanyr Solar System MPC18.56 r—18.562026-09-292026-09-29111.00124.7928, 16.7173
ZTF ZTF26abyanyy Solar System MPC18.13 r—18.132026-09-292026-09-29111.00127.4134, 18.6897
ZTF ZTF26abyanyz Solar System MPC18.38 r—18.382026-09-292026-09-29111.00127.4935, 18.8166
ZTF ZTF26abyanzw Solar System MPC16.80 r—16.802026-09-292026-09-29111.00126.4028, 17.7376
ZTF ZTF26abyanzx Solar System MPC19.07 r—19.072026-09-292026-09-29111.00126.7156, 17.1395
ZTF ZTF26abyaoaj Solar System MPC18.52 r—18.522026-09-292026-09-29111.00122.2387, 18.4941
ZTF ZTF26abyaoak Solar System MPC18.74 r—18.742026-09-292026-09-29111.00122.2281, 18.5472
ZTF ZTF26abyaoal Solar System MPC18.83 r—18.832026-09-292026-09-29111.00122.1500, 18.4476
ZTF ZTF26abyaoam Solar System MPC18.92 r—18.922026-09-292026-09-29111.00122.6180, 18.3738
ZTF ZTF26abyaoar Solar System MPC18.80 r—18.802018-03-012026-09-29111.00121.2641, 22.6235
ZTF ZTF26abyaodn Solar System MPC19.05 r—19.052026-09-292026-09-29111.00120.9995, 19.3743
ZTF ZTF26abyaodp Solar System MPC18.96 r—18.962026-09-292026-09-29111.00121.4637, 19.8350
ZTF ZTF26abyaodq Solar System MPC19.21 r—19.212026-09-292026-09-29111.00121.0148, 19.7870
ZTF ZTF26abyaoga Solar System MPC17.76 r—17.762026-09-292026-09-29111.00127.5521, 17.9476
ZTF ZTF26abyaogb Solar System MPC18.18 r—18.182026-09-292026-09-29111.00127.1809, 17.8467
ZTF ZTF26abyaogc Solar System MPC18.53 r—18.532026-09-292026-09-29111.00127.2817, 17.8810
ZTF ZTF26abyaoii Solar System MPC17.94 r—17.942026-09-292026-09-29111.00120.0114, 21.4786
ZTF ZTF26abyaoil Solar System MPC19.04 r—19.042026-09-292026-09-29111.00120.4795, 21.7752
ZTF ZTF26abyaoiv Solar System MPC13.78 r+4.913.782026-09-292026-09-29111.00126.5244, 15.2651
ZTF ZTF26abyaoix Solar System MPC17.74 r—17.742026-09-292026-09-29111.00126.0307, 15.9805
ZTF ZTF26abyaojc Solar System MPC18.82 r—18.822026-09-292026-09-29111.00121.5514, 20.9822
ZTF ZTF26abyaojd Solar System MPC18.86 r—18.862026-09-292026-09-29111.00121.3455, 21.0590
ZTF ZTF26abyaoje Solar System MPC18.94 r—18.942026-09-292026-09-29111.00121.7514, 21.7014