Project News

"Black Widow" Star Devours Its Rapidly Circling Companion

ZTF • News Release • May 4th, 2022

Astronomers from the ZTF partnership have discovered a black widow star system, in which the stars orbit around each other every 62 minutes—the shortest orbital period observed to date for this type of binary star system.

ZTF Analyzes Impact of Starlink Satellites

ZTF • News Release • January 17th, 2022

A study of archival images from Zwicky Transient Facility shows an increase in satellite streaks but state that the effect on the science conducted with the ZTF survey is so far minimal.

A Wolf-Rayet star explodes as a supernova

ZTF • News Release • January 12th, 2022

For the first time, astronomers have observed an extremely massive star - generally suspected to sneakily die as a black hole - explode in a supernova. The team of astronomers, led by a team from the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, made the initial discovery back in June 2019 with the...

First Wolf-Rayet star observed as supernova

ZTF • News Release • January 12th, 2022

A first-of-its-kind exploding star – thought to have existed only in theory – was recently discovered with the Zwicky Transient Facility by an international team of astronomers.

Public Data Release 8

ZTF • News Release • November 3rd, 2021

The Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) and IPAC at the California Institute of Technology announce the 8th ZTF Public Data Release. ZTF is an optical time-domain survey covering the northern sky visible from Palomar Observatory.

Public Data Release 7

ZTF • News Release • September 8th, 2021

The Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) and IPAC at the California Institute of Technology announce the seventh ZTF Public Data Release. ZTF is an optical time-domain survey covering the northern sky visible from Palomar Observatory.

Astronomers discover an unusually short gamma-ray burst from the death of a massive star

ZTF • News Release • July 26th, 2021

ZTF and a host of other astronomical observatories have teamed up to identify a rather unusual gamma-ray burst (GRB) - the most powerful event in the universe. Caused by the death of a massive star, this GRB lasted much shorted than expected defying a clear classification of these extraordinary...

Astronomers discover an unusually short gamma-ray burst from the death of a massive star

ZTF • News Release • July 26th, 2021

On Aug. 26, 2020, NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope detected a pulse of high-energy radiation that had been racing toward Earth for nearly half the present age of the universe. Lasting only about a second, it turned out to be one for the record books – the shortest gamma-ray burst...

A White Dwarf Living on the Edge

ZTF • News Release • July 1st, 2021

Astronomers have identified a white dwarf so massive that it might collapse

Public Data Release 6

ZTF • News Release • June 30th, 2021

The Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) and IPAC at the California Institute of Technology announce the sixth ZTF Public Data Release. ZTF is an optical time-domain survey covering the northern sky visible from Palomar Observatory.

"Black Widow" Star Devours Its Rapidly Circling Companion

ZTF • May 4th, 2022

Astronomers from the ZTF partnership have discovered a black widow star system, in which the stars orbit around each other every 62 minutes—the shortest orbital period observed...

ZTF Analyzes Impact of Starlink Satellites

ZTF • January 17th, 2022

A study of archival images from Zwicky Transient Facility shows an increase in satellite streaks but state that the effect on the science conducted with the ZTF survey is...

A Wolf-Rayet star explodes as a supernova

ZTF • January 12th, 2022

For the first time, astronomers have observed an extremely massive star - generally suspected to sneakily die as a black hole - explode in a supernova. The team of...

First Wolf-Rayet star observed as supernova

ZTF • January 12th, 2022

A first-of-its-kind exploding star – thought to have existed only in theory – was recently discovered with the Zwicky Transient Facility by an international team of astronomers.

Public Data Release 8

ZTF • November 3rd, 2021

The Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) and IPAC at the California Institute of Technology announce the 8th ZTF Public Data Release. ZTF is an optical time-domain survey covering...

Public Data Release 7

ZTF • September 8th, 2021

The Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) and IPAC at the California Institute of Technology announce the seventh ZTF Public Data Release. ZTF is an optical time-domain survey...

Astronomers discover an unusually short gamma-ray burst from the death of a massive star

ZTF • July 26th, 2021

ZTF and a host of other astronomical observatories have teamed up to identify a rather unusual gamma-ray burst (GRB) - the most powerful event in the universe. Caused by the...

Astronomers discover an unusually short gamma-ray burst from the death of a massive star

ZTF • July 26th, 2021

On Aug. 26, 2020, NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope detected a pulse of high-energy radiation that had been racing toward Earth for nearly half the present age of the...

A White Dwarf Living on the Edge

ZTF • July 1st, 2021

Astronomers have identified a white dwarf so massive that it might collapse

Public Data Release 6

ZTF • June 30th, 2021

The Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) and IPAC at the California Institute of Technology announce the sixth ZTF Public Data Release. ZTF is an optical time-domain survey covering...