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
651–700 of 255,900 · All objects seen in the 7 nights
ObjectClassLast magPeakFirst seenLast seenNightsAlertsRel.RA, DecPartner
ZTF ZTF26abxsybg Solar System MPC18.13 r18.132026-09-262026-09-26111.00149.5199, 10.9327
ZTF ZTF26abxsybh Solar System MPC18.92 r18.922026-09-262026-09-26111.00149.8208, 11.3439
ZTF ZTF17aaajikx RRLyrae18.23 r17.902017-11-212026-09-2611161.00159.3096, 24.9929
ZTF ZTF17aaclwqg RRLyrae18.51 r18.082017-11-212026-09-2622281.00157.8287, 29.5206
ZTF ZTF17aacmivq RRLyrae18.08 r16.932017-11-192026-09-2615211.00155.6968, 24.7483
ZTF ZTF18aabpvuj Unknown18.03 r17.732017-11-192026-09-2610121.00155.3712, 25.2775
ZTF ZTF18aceshhl QSOfaded r—2019-04-072026-09-26881881.00154.9390, 29.0272
ZTF ZTF18adbhkba QSOfaded r—2018-03-252026-09-2622391.00156.9080, 22.8293
ZTF ZTF19adccfsl QSOfaded r—2019-12-292026-09-2637721.00159.1748, 25.0433
ZTF ZTF20aakqtxw RRLyraefaded r—2017-11-212026-09-2626321.00154.9113, 26.3849
ZTF ZTF26abxsxyu Solar System MPC17.94 r17.942026-09-262026-09-26111.00156.1879, 24.6691
ZTF ZTF26abxsyoi Solar System MPC15.45 r15.452026-09-262026-09-26111.00159.1139, 23.4311
ZTF ZTF17aaapomf RRLyraefaded r15.852017-12-092026-09-2625271.00151.3200, 19.7049
ZTF ZTF17aaarsej RRLyrae18.41 r17.902017-12-032026-09-2619241.00150.3229, 17.5960
ZTF ZTF17aabtoqk RRLyraefaded r16.362017-12-092026-09-26771271.00151.2035, 19.3403
ZTF ZTF18aaadfic RRLyrae18.01 r17.242017-12-142026-09-2635441.00151.3061, 16.4689
ZTF ZTF18aaaomqc Seyfert118.33 r18.332018-01-112026-09-2614151.00151.7925, 22.0505
ZTF ZTF18aaaufrg RRLyraefaded r18.742018-02-072026-09-2631401.00149.3141, 15.8577
ZTF ZTF18aaaunrz EclBin16.12 r15.862018-01-132026-09-2632381.00149.0430, 20.6794
ZTF ZTF18aabklbs RRLyraefaded r15.022017-12-182026-09-2644621.00149.0761, 19.9464
ZTF ZTF18aalozvy BLLacAT 2022dvr18.68 r17.822018-04-192026-09-26691201.00149.8746, 21.3893
ZTF ZTF18aavnbym BLLac18.51 r18.382018-03-252026-09-26601001.00150.7416, 16.0398
ZTF ZTF18accnggf QSO18.69 r18.692018-11-032026-09-2618201.00151.1334, 16.5527
ZTF ZTF18acefhxf EclBin18.43 r18.412018-01-112026-09-2612121.00148.6043, 16.0888
ZTF ZTF18acuspbi UnknownAT 2018loefaded r—2018-11-092026-09-2650671.00154.1650, 18.3419
ZTF ZTF19aacwkdh Solar System MPC17.87 r17.872019-01-102026-09-26111.00149.2204, 19.2983
ZTF ZTF19acbwdyr Unknown17.88 r17.882018-04-192026-09-2632421.00151.8602, 18.5199
ZTF ZTF19adlxcwn Unknown18.54 r18.142019-12-292026-09-26761241.00152.8049, 15.9013
ZTF ZTF21aclywaw QSO19.11 r18.712018-12-092026-09-26631161.00149.5610, 15.5256
ZTF ZTF22aacqydm QSO18.83 r18.832021-10-112026-09-2666991.00151.1906, 22.4221
ZTF ZTF22abjdhbv Unknownfaded r—2020-11-302026-09-26220.99155.7242, 17.9977
ZTF ZTF22abmkbbs Unknownfaded r—2021-02-082026-09-26110.95151.9577, 17.4855
ZTF ZTF23aacfgpn GtowardsGroupfaded r—2018-02-242026-09-26770.99149.0796, 16.8311
ZTF ZTF25aadfldh Solar System MPC15.76 r15.762025-01-302026-09-26111.00153.3884, 18.2913
ZTF ZTF26abwyabv UnknownAT 2026acwn18.74 r18.372026-09-222026-09-26231.00151.9752, 19.2596
ZTF ZTF26abxsvpe Solar System MPC17.15 r17.152026-09-262026-09-26111.00152.9452, 16.8192
ZTF ZTF26abxsvse Solar System MPC18.33 r18.332026-09-262026-09-26111.00153.9216, 16.2844
ZTF ZTF26abxsvwt Solar System MPC17.94 r17.942026-09-262026-09-26111.00151.5414, 20.6080
ZTF ZTF26abxsvwy Solar System MPC17.84 r17.842026-09-262026-09-26111.00150.0106, 20.1391
ZTF ZTF26abxsvya Solar System MPC18.87 r18.872026-09-262026-09-26111.00149.5146, 19.0525
ZTF ZTF26abxsvyt Solar System MPC12.08 r12.082026-09-262026-09-26110.99152.0113, 21.3302
ZTF ZTF26abxsvyu Solar System MPC17.42 r17.422026-09-262026-09-26111.00151.6564, 21.6840
ZTF ZTF26abxswbd Solar System MPC18.65 r18.652026-09-262026-09-26111.00151.6842, 15.9499
ZTF ZTF26abxswer Solar System MPC16.87 r16.872026-09-262026-09-26111.00151.0789, 21.4537
ZTF ZTF26abxswes Solar System MPC17.11 r17.112026-09-262026-09-26111.00150.2980, 21.4792
ZTF ZTF26abxswet Solar System MPC17.27 r17.272026-09-262026-09-26111.00150.5048, 21.5664
ZTF ZTF26abxsweu Solar System MPC18.63 r18.632026-09-262026-09-26111.00151.0639, 21.6118
ZTF ZTF26abxswff Solar System MPC18.72 r18.722026-09-262026-09-26111.00150.8757, 15.8547
ZTF ZTF26abxswgw Solar System MPC17.64 r17.642026-09-262026-09-26111.00151.3595, 22.0942
ZTF ZTF26abxswgx Solar System MPC16.39 r16.392026-09-262026-09-26111.00153.0152, 18.6002