The Survey

Introduction

The Catalina Real-Time Transient Survey is a synoptic astronomical exploration that covers tens of thousands of square degrees of the sky in order discover rare in interesting transient phenomina. The survey utilizes data taken by the three dedicated telescopes of the highly successful Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) NEO project. CRTS detects and openly publishes all transients within minutes of observation so that all astronomers may follow ongoing events.

Automated Analysis

CRTS builds on the work performed for the Palomar Quest survey and continues to pave the way for deeper upcoming transient surveys (Pan-STARRs, SkyMapper and LSST), by automating the event discovery and classification processes so that robust decisions can enable intelligent human and robotic follow up.

Rapid Response

In order to fully understand rapidly varying transient astronomical behaviour, automated alerting and follow-up is a necessity. Rapid transient science is enabled by the affiliated projects VOEventNet and SkyAlert.
• VOEventNet is a means of transporting astronomical events to interested subscribers, automatically within minutes of discovery.
• SkyAlert enables users to perform complex queries about discoveries in order to receive personally tailored and filtered event streams.

CRTS also publishes VOEvents directly to the general public via Google Sky in kml.

Telescopes

MLS

CSS

SSS

Past Astronomical Discoveries

The Brightest Supernova of 2007

Below is a picture of a nearby supernova discovered by CRTS in NGC4038/39 (the Antenanne).



 photo credit: Daniel Verschatse & Robert Gendler