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.

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
1,601–1,650 of 256,283 · All objects seen in the 7 nights
ObjectClassLast magPeakFirst seenLast seenNightsDetectionsRel.RA, DecPartner
ZTF ZTF20acxxmvk EclBinfaded r—2018-11-172026-09-26111.00125.2126, -9.8886
ZTF ZTF20acxxnez EclBinfaded r—2018-11-172026-09-26110.80126.9697, -9.5167
ZTF ZTF20acxxnpg EclBinfaded r—2018-12-292026-09-26111.00125.0820, -7.9684
ZTF ZTF20acxxnpo Variable*faded r—2019-12-162026-09-26111.00125.2440, -7.9618
ZTF ZTF20acxxnyg Unknownfaded r—2020-12-102026-09-26110.98124.0472, -8.2674
ZTF ZTF20adaemyx EclBinfaded r—2018-11-172026-09-26110.99129.4775, -8.0064
ZTF ZTF20adaemzv EclBinfaded r—2018-11-172026-09-26110.98127.8798, -6.9826
ZTF ZTF20adaency EclBinfaded r—2018-11-272026-09-26111.00127.4177, -9.9120
ZTF ZTF20adaenfm RRLyrae17.34 r17.342018-11-172026-09-26111.00125.0580, -9.7491
ZTF ZTF20adaenib Unknownfaded r—2018-11-072026-09-26451.00129.3735, -7.3211
ZTF ZTF20adfpjak Unknownfaded r—2020-10-122026-09-26110.00124.0205, -8.2608
ZTF ZTF21aadhnec Unknownfaded r—2018-11-172026-09-26111.00123.2442, -6.4986
ZTF ZTF21aadhnfj Unknownfaded r—2019-12-162026-09-26110.56126.9599, -8.3340
ZTF ZTF21aadyywv Unknownfaded r—2018-11-172026-09-26111.00127.8070, -9.8059
ZTF ZTF21aadyzfe EclBinfaded r—2021-01-132026-09-26110.98123.1874, -6.0855
ZTF ZTF21aaqhily Unknownfaded r15.662018-12-172026-09-26441.00125.0165, -2.7436
ZTF ZTF22aaacjfh Unknownfaded r18.002020-11-272026-09-265101.00123.6027, -2.5889
ZTF ZTF22aabymdw Unknownfaded r—2018-11-172026-09-26111.00123.1609, -4.8925
ZTF ZTF22aacfnma Unknown18.23 r18.232019-11-022026-09-2620221.00129.3280, -8.4094
ZTF ZTF22aacfnqo Unknownfaded r—2022-03-012026-09-26110.84123.2480, -2.5282
ZTF ZTF23abnzrrb Unknownfaded r18.622020-01-062026-09-2612121.00124.6556, -2.7448
ZTF ZTF23abptunr Unknownfaded r—2018-12-172026-09-2626321.00129.2863, -6.4942
ZTF ZTF23absdhzh Unknownfaded r—2021-01-162026-09-26110.84125.2024, -9.1380
ZTF ZTF23absdjfr Unknownfaded r—2023-10-312026-09-26110.95123.5583, -8.2669
ZTF ZTF24aaddodz Unknownfaded r—2018-11-172026-09-2644631.00129.6297, -7.1635
ZTF ZTF24aaibvdi Unknown18.94 r18.922020-10-192026-09-2612120.02125.2527, -9.6515
ZTF ZTF25aacakps Unknownfaded r—2021-01-132026-09-26110.99124.0331, -8.2685
ZTF ZTF26abxsvgt Unknown18.81 r18.812026-09-262026-09-26110.27127.5194, -9.0863
ZTF ZTF26abxsvhl Unknownfaded r—2018-12-292026-09-26110.83126.4662, -8.2858
ZTF ZTF26abxsvky Unknownfaded r—2020-11-282026-09-26110.99125.1599, -9.1882
ZTF ZTF26abxsvmh Unknownfaded r—2026-09-262026-09-26110.97123.6658, -8.2726
ZTF ZTF26abxswwy EclBinfaded r—2019-03-162026-09-26111.00123.6299, -7.8536
ZTF ZTF26abxsyjc Unknown18.40 r18.402026-09-262026-09-26111.00126.0316, -6.8452
ZTF ZTF17aaaivnh EclBinfaded r16.922017-12-142026-09-2646581.00129.5871, 7.4104
ZTF ZTF17aaaivvh EclBin17.74 r17.362017-12-142026-09-2668991.00129.0323, 7.9930
ZTF ZTF17aaaivwq EclBinfaded r17.232017-12-142026-09-2629411.00125.4704, 8.5360
ZTF ZTF17aaaiwbu EclBin17.13 r16.332017-12-142026-09-26741201.00127.0957, 5.6147
ZTF ZTF17aaaiwbz EclBinfaded r17.982017-12-142026-09-2654701.00123.3879, 7.5998
ZTF ZTF17aaajeij EclBin15.47 r15.232017-12-142026-09-2626340.99129.4689, 6.0495
ZTF ZTF17aabtfhe EclBinfaded r17.922017-12-142026-09-2638461.00123.9496, 4.7176
ZTF ZTF17aabtfnw EclBinfaded r16.472017-12-142026-09-2652641.00122.8285, 6.7818
ZTF ZTF17aabtfqo EclBinfaded r18.352017-12-142026-09-2642511.00123.5597, 7.7755
ZTF ZTF17aabtkux RRLyraefaded r17.152017-12-142026-09-2658871.00128.4550, 5.4292
ZTF ZTF18aaabhwc EclBinfaded r18.382018-01-112026-09-2648571.00124.2854, 8.3775
ZTF ZTF18aaabhwr EclBinfaded r16.562018-01-112026-09-2658651.00123.8941, 11.3279
ZTF ZTF18aaabhxe EclBinfaded r15.192018-01-112026-09-2642551.00122.3234, 11.4698
ZTF ZTF18aaabkzp EclBin17.40 r17.172018-01-112026-09-2664831.00123.3622, 9.6217
ZTF ZTF18aaabltn UnknownAT 2018gkrfaded r17.122018-01-112026-09-26861601.00124.3600, 10.2028
ZTF ZTF18aaabpcf EclBin15.10 r14.762017-12-142026-09-2656721.00123.0126, 5.1575
ZTF ZTF18aaabwhl EclBinfaded r17.592018-01-112026-09-2623271.00124.4110, 9.6186