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
1,201–1,250 of 255,900 · All objects seen in the 7 nights
ObjectClassLast magPeakFirst seenLast seenNightsAlertsRel.RA, DecPartner
ZTF ZTF26abxswhi Solar System MPC18.82 r18.822026-09-262026-09-26111.00133.9193, 21.3618
ZTF ZTF26abxswhj Solar System MPC18.96 r18.962026-09-262026-09-26111.00133.9135, 21.4863
ZTF ZTF26abxswhk Solar System MPC19.22 r19.222026-09-262026-09-26111.00134.2410, 21.1135
ZTF ZTF26abxswhl Solar System MPC19.32 r19.322026-09-262026-09-26111.00134.2171, 21.4032
ZTF ZTF26abxswss Solar System MPC18.53 r18.532026-09-262026-09-26111.00132.8757, 21.8335
ZTF ZTF26abxswwl Solar System MPC17.10 r17.102026-09-262026-09-26111.00130.1456, 25.0452
ZTF ZTF26abxswwn Solar System MPC18.80 r18.802026-09-262026-09-26110.94130.4489, 25.1878
ZTF ZTF26abxswyl Solar System MPC19.41 r19.412026-09-262026-09-26111.00132.2549, 22.2554
ZTF ZTF26abxswyn Solar System MPC14.31 r14.312026-09-262026-09-26111.00132.2518, 20.8425
ZTF ZTF26abxswys Solar System MPC18.20 r18.202026-09-262026-09-26111.00132.0051, 21.2818
ZTF ZTF26abxsxbm Solar System MPC17.96 r17.962026-09-262026-09-26111.00131.5718, 21.2053
ZTF ZTF26abxsxbn Solar System MPC19.55 r19.552026-09-262026-09-26111.00131.1931, 21.1271
ZTF ZTF26abxsxcg Solar System MPC17.98 r17.982026-09-262026-09-26111.00132.8124, 21.1642
ZTF ZTF26abxsxch Solar System MPC18.27 r18.272026-09-262026-09-26111.00133.3848, 20.8393
ZTF ZTF26abxsxcj Solar System MPC18.65 r18.652026-09-262026-09-26111.00133.4506, 21.0475
ZTF ZTF26abxsxfx Solar System MPC17.81 r17.812026-09-262026-09-26111.00131.4810, 22.4058
ZTF ZTF26abxsxgf Solar System MPC18.78 r18.782026-09-262026-09-26111.00131.2276, 22.0813
ZTF ZTF26abxsxwa Solar System MPC18.78 r18.782026-09-262026-09-26111.00130.5745, 21.4050
ZTF ZTF17aaaguor EclBinfaded r—2017-12-142026-09-26111.00129.0446, 17.1570
ZTF ZTF17aaaguox RRLyraefaded r17.052017-12-142026-09-26671091.00129.6164, 13.8831
ZTF ZTF17aaaguyd RRLyrae16.87 r15.772017-12-142026-09-2649781.00128.3145, 18.6006
ZTF ZTF17aaagvdj RRLyrae18.38 r17.392017-12-142026-09-266161.00125.3181, 18.9997
ZTF ZTF17aaagvgz RRLyraefaded r17.172017-12-142026-09-26391.00128.6882, 11.8284
ZTF ZTF17aaagvmd RRLyrae18.61 r17.082017-12-142026-09-26771051.00127.1113, 12.6863
ZTF ZTF17aaaivxa EclBinfaded r17.662017-12-142026-09-2640551.00125.8712, 14.8543
ZTF ZTF17aaaiznw EclBin18.12 r18.122017-12-142026-09-2657681.00132.4679, 12.2682
ZTF ZTF17aaansen EclBin16.18 r15.922017-12-142026-09-2663981.00129.9855, 12.9262
ZTF ZTF17aaansrn EclBinfaded r—2017-12-152026-09-26110.99130.2513, 13.6766
ZTF ZTF17aaantnv EclBin16.64 r16.202017-12-142026-09-2661821.00129.7948, 12.2508
ZTF ZTF17aaaoljr EclBinfaded r17.362017-12-152026-09-2642531.00128.5124, 15.8376
ZTF ZTF17aaapfqb RRLyraefaded r16.922017-12-142026-09-26771301.00125.6149, 16.5613
ZTF ZTF17aaapgaf EclBinfaded r16.902017-12-152026-09-26711271.00132.1286, 13.9740
ZTF ZTF17aaaplcw EclBin18.40 r18.282017-12-142026-09-2639451.00128.4212, 13.0798
ZTF ZTF17aaapnrf EclBin16.67 r15.852017-12-142026-09-2658691.00128.7248, 12.5872
ZTF ZTF17aabomtz EclBinfaded r15.672017-12-152026-09-2633421.00131.6144, 12.8009
ZTF ZTF17aabrxgf RRLyraefaded r17.852017-12-182026-09-2637451.00131.9762, 13.0403
ZTF ZTF18aaabins C*faded r13.502018-01-112026-09-2655691.00127.3130, 18.3854
ZTF ZTF18aaabjkh AGB*faded r13.952018-01-112026-09-2667881.00126.7088, 16.3822
ZTF ZTF18aaaqnxg EclBinfaded r18.702017-12-142026-09-2636401.00126.8247, 14.8073
ZTF ZTF18aaaqzxx RRLyrae18.15 r17.222017-12-142026-09-26701421.00132.1398, 13.1786
ZTF ZTF18aaardmj EclBinfaded r17.632017-12-172026-09-2618201.00126.7650, 14.9870
ZTF ZTF18aaasjmm EclBinfaded r18.602017-12-152026-09-2635471.00127.4532, 17.1181
ZTF ZTF18aaayjav EclBinfaded r—2017-12-152026-09-2611140.99130.9461, 14.9073
ZTF ZTF18aabwbbc BLLacfaded r17.472017-12-172026-09-26841531.00129.3530, 14.9721
ZTF ZTF18aafhxrm QSOfaded r19.212018-11-082026-09-26471.00131.1448, 11.6959
ZTF ZTF18aafhzmb Seyfert1AT 2020acoa18.71 r18.712017-12-172026-09-2646611.00131.9648, 12.6756
ZTF ZTF18aafkxvt QSOfaded r18.602020-02-012026-09-26601011.00128.7377, 18.7371
ZTF ZTF18aafmgsq QSO18.45 r18.332018-12-092026-09-2644501.00130.1585, 12.8293
ZTF ZTF18aafprll Unknownfaded r16.622018-11-022026-09-26721581.00127.6861, 18.4102
ZTF ZTF18aafqbew Solar System MPC17.71 r17.712018-11-172026-09-26111.00127.3709, 18.3038