Open Exploration of the Time Domain with the Catalina Real-Time Transient Survey (CRTS)
Abstract
Catalina Real-Time Transient Survey (CRTS; http://crts.caltech.edu) is systematically exploring and characterizing the faint, variable sky. It uses data streams generated by the Catalina Sky Survey, which searches for near-Earth asteroids, to search for variable objects and transient events. The CRTS survey has been in operation since 2008, with the archival data going back to 2005. A continuation of the survey has been funded by the NSF, and we are forming an international consortium for an expanded and extended coverage and a broader scientific exploitation. We have a completely open data policy: all discovered transient events are published in real time with no proprietary delay period, and all data are made public, in order to better serve the entire community, and maximize the scientific returns. The survey covers the total area of ~33,000 deg2, down to ~19-21 mag per exposure, with time baselines from 10 min to ~9 years, and growing; there are now typically ~ 300-400 exposures per pointing, and coadded images reach deeper than ~ 23 mag. The area coverage rate will increase substantially as new cameras are being deployed, and possible new data streams opened. The survey has so far detected nearly 10,000 unique, high-amplitude transients, including ~2,500 supernovae (for the last 5 years we published more supernovae than any other survey), >1,200 CVs (the great majority of them previously uncatalogued), >3,000 of blazars and other AGN, and a broad variety of other types of objects. We have ~500 million light curves, which are have been made public and which are being updated continuously. This is an unprecedented data set for the exploration of the time domain, in terms of the area, depth, and temporal coverage. Numerous scientific projects have been enabled by this data stream, including: discoveries of ultraluminous and otherwise peculiar SNe; unusual CVs and dwarf novae; mapping of the structure in the Galactic halo using RR Lyrae; variability-based discovery of AGN and probes of their physics; etc. We also have a major effort on the automated classification of transient and variable sources. CRTS is both a scientific and methodological precursor to LSST, and its data are open to the entire community.
- Publication:
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American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #225
- Pub Date:
- January 2015
- Bibcode:
- 2015AAS...22533615D