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Systematically Exploring the
Dynamic Universe
What is ZTF?
The Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) is an international consortium led by Caltech that operates cutting-edge observational facilities at the Palomar observatory to systematically study the dynamic optical night sky. Using an extremely wide-field of view camera, ZTF has been continuously scanning the entire Northern sky every two days since 2018. The resulting large area survey has enabled a leap in our understanding of the transient universe and helped prepare the community for the arrival of the Vera Rubin Observatory. In the Rubin era, ZTF will strategically observe overlapping areas to provide unique multi-survey capabilities for the studies of fast and rare objects that would remain undetected in any of the single surveys. ZTF is funded in equal part by the US National Science Foundation and its partners.
Extreme Field of View
ZTF employs a custom-built mosaic CCD camera which utilizes the entire focal plane (~ 47 sq deg) of the P48 telescope at Palomar, providing the largest instantaneous field-of-view of any camera on a telescope of aperture greater than half a meter.
Read MoreUnique survey
ZTF scans the northern sky at high cadance (~2 days) to produce a comprehensive, multi-filter survey. ZTF delivers bi-monthly public data releases of high quality and reliable data products to enable time-domain science.
Read MoreMachine Learning & Dedicated Followup
Data pipelines incorporate machine learning algorithms to sieve through billions of individual astrophysical sources and send candidates for dedicated and automated followup and classification.
Read MorePowerful collaboration
The ZTF partnership has formed a strong, scientifically diverse collaboration with partners from the USA, Europe and Asia. This large multidisciplinary team also offers access to an extensive network of followup resources.
Read MoreFeatured Video
Discovered so far...
Classified Supernovae
Tidal Disruption Events
Near Earth Asteroids & Comets
Ultra-compact Binaries
Science
Themes
Science activities in ZTF are organized and managed by seven science working groups (SWG). These are:
Science Vlog
Cosmic Newsflash is the ZTF newsletter for the large time-domain astronomy community that uses ZTF public data. Timed with our public data releases, it includes practical information about the release, a summary of science highlights from the ZTF partnership, updates from operations, a spotlight on team members and more.
News & Announcements
March 18, 2026 | Category: News
How Two Dim Stars Came Together to Shine Brightly
Zwicky Transient Facility discovers a brown dwarf actively funneling matter from its companion. A new finding led by researchers discovered in archival observations captured by the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) shows how these dim bulbs can join together to shine brightly.
Feb 26, 2026 | Category: Press Release
Babamul Goes Live as the Rubin Alert Stream Opens to the Community
Marking a major milestone, alerts from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory have begun flowing to dedicated broker systems that will filter and distribute the Rubin alert stream to the astronomical community worldwide. Babamul—one of Rubin’s selected alert brokers—officially began operations today.
Dec 16, 2025 | Category: News
Astronomer may have spotted a rare hypothesized merger
A superkilonova is cosmic merger in which a kilonova (two neutron stars colliding) is preceeded by a supernova that creates the neutrons stars. Such an event has been hypothesized but never seen. Stiching together data from LIGO/Virgo and multiple optical telescopes, astronomers report that their observations suggest we may have seen a superkilonova for the first time.
Outreach
Our global team and varied science provide excellent opportunities for outreach. In ZTF phase II, we continue to run our ZTF summer schools designed to provide PhD student with hands-on skills in data processing and analysis of ZTF data. Partners in our global network welcome undergraduate students every summer under the flagship of various summer research programs. Students conduct not only a wide variety of research reflected by the breadth of science activities in ZTF, but they also learn how to be part of international collaborations. At Caltech, we also participate in various outreach activities focusing on high school students. We also engage in public outreach via projects on Zooniverse. By the end of ZTF phase II we plan to launch a new web tool/mobile app designed to let the general public learn more about the dynamic sky.
ZTF summer school ZARTH mobile gameStudent Opportunities
