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ZTF Data
The Z+LIONS survey (ZTF + LSST Inventory of Nuclear Transients and Supernovae) is a magnitude-limited spectroscopic survey of ZTF transients in the Rubin LSST Wide-Fast-Deep (WFD) footprint which commenced on 6 February 2026. Targeting >95% spectroscopic completeness to 20 mag, the ZTF survey covers 10,000 sq. deg of the Rubin Footprint with 1-day cadence and 30 sec exposure in ZTF g,r, and i bands. Transients are identified by filtering ZTF and LSST alert streams; the primary goals are to build a large, well-characterised statistical sample of nuclear transients (SNe, TDEs) for population studies, and to flag unusual events for detailed follow-up. Alert data (including preliminary photometry) are released in real time via the ZTF alert broker Babamul. Spectra and classifications are announced nightly via the Transient Name Server (TNS).
12 March, 2025
The Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) has released Zubercal (ZTF-ubercal), a new set of photometry based on a detailed recalibration of ZTF Science image-based PSF photometry. This dataset includes all ZTF detections from DR20 that have been matched to Pan-STARRS1 (PS1) sources (< 1.2”) and contain color information. For more details, refer to the Zubercal documentation. Zubercal is now available for bulk download on the IRSA ZTF mission page.
14 Feb, 2025
The Cosmolog group in ZTF releases its second supernova release containing 3628 highly sampled Type Ia supernovae. The data was acquired by the Zwicky Transient Facility in the period of March 2018 and December 2020. To date, this is the largest and most homogeneous dataset of thousands of density sampled and well calibrated Type Ia supernovae light curves, spectra, host properties, and observing logs. The dataset is available to the entire astronomical community as a resource to enable researchers to refine models and develop new techniques to enhance the precision and accuracy of distances derived from SN Ia observations.
The Bright Transient Survey (BTS) is ZTF's largest spectroscopic supernova survey with over 10000 objects.
Since 2024, ZTF is running a series of monthly "ZTF experiments". These are targeted 3-night observing sessions, that will explore new scientific opportunities via novel observing modes that are different from routine operations. These can include changes to the cadence, filters, field selection, integration times, etc. Alerst from the science experiments will be public and available immediates (as usual). Images and photometry data will also become available after two months.
Since 2018, a portion of the observing time of ZTF has been dedicated to a public survey that has produced over 20 public survey releases to date.
Telescopes & Status
ZTF survey uses two telescopes both part of the Palomar Observatory.
The ZTF wide-field camera is mounted on the Samuel Oschin (P48) Telescope
Overview | Status | Documentation
The SEDM spectrograph operates on the 60-inch (P60) Telescope
Overview | Status & Documentation | Data Reduction Pipeline
Alerts
Simple daily alert archive is available to the community
Alert Stream
ZTF alerts via other community brokers
ALeRCE | Fink | Lasair | MARS
| ANTARES | AMPEL | Pitt/Google
Overview
ZTF is described in a series of key papers listed listed below. ZTF was also featured in a special Focus issue of PASP.
The Zwicky Transient Facility: System Overview, Performance, and First Results (Bellm et al. 2019)
The Zwicky Transient Facility: Science Objectives (Graham et al. 2019)
The Zwicky Transient Facility: Observing System (Dekany et al. 2019)
The Zwicky Transient Facility: Surveys and Scheduler (Bellm et al. 2019)
The Zwicky Transient Facility Alert Distribution System (Patterson et al. 2019)
The Zwicky Transient Facility: Data Processing, Products, and Archive (Masci et al. 2018)
Machine Learning for the ZTF (Mahabal et al. 2019)
More
Repositories for processing ZTF data and alerts
ZTF Github
Open source code for the astronomical data platform used by the ZTF partnership
ZTF Fritz System
The 7th public release made available in HiPS for display by Aladin (by Universite de Strasbourgh)
DR7 HiPS
