The Zwicky Transient Facility: System Overview, Performance, and First Results

January 2019 • 2019PASP..131a8002B

Authors • Bellm, Eric C. • Kulkarni, Shrinivas R. • Graham, Matthew J. • Dekany, Richard • Smith, Roger M. • Riddle, Reed • Masci, Frank J. • Helou, George • Prince, Thomas A. • Adams, Scott M. • Barbarino, C. • Barlow, Tom • Bauer, James • Beck, Ron • Belicki, Justin • Biswas, Rahul • Blagorodnova, Nadejda • Bodewits, Dennis • Bolin, Bryce • Brinnel, Valery • Brooke, Tim • Bue, Brian • Bulla, Mattia • Burruss, Rick • Cenko, S. Bradley • Chang, Chan-Kao • Connolly, Andrew • Coughlin, Michael • Cromer, John • Cunningham, Virginia • De, Kishalay • Delacroix, Alex • Desai, Vandana • Duev, Dmitry A. • Eadie, Gwendolyn • Farnham, Tony L. • Feeney, Michael • Feindt, Ulrich • Flynn, David • Franckowiak, Anna • Frederick, S. • Fremling, C. • Gal-Yam, Avishay • Gezari, Suvi • Giomi, Matteo • Goldstein, Daniel A. • Golkhou, V. Zach • Goobar, Ariel • Groom, Steven • Hacopians, Eugean • Hale, David • Henning, John • Ho, Anna Y. Q. • Hover, David • Howell, Justin • Hung, Tiara • Huppenkothen, Daniela • Imel, David • Ip, Wing-Huen • Ivezić, Željko • Jackson, Edward • Jones, Lynne • Juric, Mario • Kasliwal, Mansi M. • Kaspi, S. • Kaye, Stephen • Kelley, Michael S. P. • Kowalski, Marek • Kramer, Emily • Kupfer, Thomas • Landry, Walter • Laher, Russ R. • Lee, Chien-De • Lin, Hsing Wen • Lin, Zhong-Yi • Lunnan, Ragnhild • Giomi, Matteo • Mahabal, Ashish • Mao, Peter • Miller, Adam A. • Monkewitz, Serge • Murphy, Patrick • Ngeow, Chow-Choong • Nordin, Jakob • Nugent, Peter • Ofek, Eran • Patterson, Maria T. • Penprase, Bryan • Porter, Michael • Rauch, Ludwig • Rebbapragada, Umaa • Reiley, Dan • Rigault, Mickael • Rodriguez, Hector • van Roestel, Jan • Rusholme, Ben • van Santen, Jakob • Schulze, S. • Shupe, David L. • Singer, Leo P. • Soumagnac, Maayane T. • Stein, Robert • Surace, Jason • Sollerman, Jesper • Szkody, Paula • Taddia, F. • Terek, Scott • Van Sistine, Angela • van Velzen, Sjoert • Vestrand, W. Thomas • Walters, Richard • Ward, Charlotte • Ye, Quan-Zhi • Yu, Po-Chieh • Yan, Lin • Zolkower, Jeffry

Abstract • The Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) is a new optical time-domain survey that uses the Palomar 48 inch Schmidt telescope. A custom-built wide-field camera provides a 47 deg² field of view and 8 s readout time, yielding more than an order of magnitude improvement in survey speed relative to its predecessor survey, the Palomar Transient Factory. We describe the design and implementation of the camera and observing system. The ZTF data system at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center provides near-real-time reduction to identify moving and varying objects. We outline the analysis pipelines, data products, and associated archive. Finally, we present on-sky performance analysis and first scientific results from commissioning and the early survey. ZTF’s public alert stream will serve as a useful precursor for that of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope.

Links

• SIMBAD http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbo.pl?bibcode=2019PASP..131a8002B
• PDF http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1538-3873/aaecbe/pdf
• PREPRINT http://arxiv.org/abs/1902.01932
• ELECTR http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1538-3873/aaecbe