The Catalina Real Time Transient Survey
The Catalina Real Time Transient Survey, CRTS was established in late 2007 as a synoptic survey for optical transients using freely provided CSS image survey data. Transient phenomena include supernovae, blazars, binary stars, cataclysmic variables, active galactic nuclei, etc. Once transient events are discovered within the images, CRTS, operated from the California Institute of Technology, immediately posts alerts, allowing observers worldwide to rapidly acquire data of the event before it subsides. This “downstream” application of CSS survey data has generated a substantial quantity of important discoveries spanning a broad array of stellar and galactic phenomena.
The sky map below illustrates many of the CRTS program discoveries. (Red=SN, Blue = CV, Green=Blazar, Magenta=Other):
