SOURCES & DETAILS
Where the photos
and facts come from.
The photos and facts come from public astronomy archives. Here are the original sources, how the pictures are prepared, and when the information was last updated.
The sources
- JPL Small-Body Database ↗
Identity, discovery, naming citation, orbit solution and physical entries. Retrieved 2026-09-29. Orbital epoch JD 2461200.5; solution 60.
- IAU Minor Planet Center ↗
Reported astrometry and brightness bands. Retrieved 2026-09-29. Satellite continuation records are paired, not counted as additional sightings.
- JPL Horizons ↗
Predicted positions and brightness, from Earth’s center. Retrieved 2026-09-29. Samples valid through 2026-10-30 (exclusive).
- WGSBN Bulletin 6, no. 11, page 10 ↗
The official naming citation and discovery circumstances, published 9 July 2026.
- IRSA Moving Object Search Tool (MOST) ↗
Finds images intersecting a predicted path. A match is coverage, not a confirmed detection. Last successful search: 2026-09-29.
- Zwicky Transient Facility archive ↗
Single-exposure science images obtained with the Samuel Oschin Telescope at Palomar Observatory. Original FITS downloads are linked beside individual exposures.
From exposure to animation
FITS files are validated, then reprojected onto a common celestial coordinate grid: north up, east left. A robust background/noise normalization and an asinh stretch make faint points visible. This display processing is not calibrated photometry.
Every displayed frame corresponds to one exposure. Frames are not synthetically interpolated. A mint marker shows the predicted position; it does not assert that a source has been independently identified. Changes of filter and seeing can change star brightness.
“Image available” means usable pixels were downloaded and rendered. “Image not yet available” means a public-file request was unsuccessful and will be checked again. “Awaiting image processing” marks an archive candidate still in the queue.
Updates & availability
The pipeline is configured for daily predictions and MPC records, plus twice-weekly image searches and rendering through GitHub Actions. Scheduled runs are best effort. Check the timestamps below to see what actually succeeded.
Refresh history ↗ZTF documents a rolling release window of about 60 days for public images; proprietary images take longer. Availability varies. A newly added photo can therefore contain much older observations.
ZTF release policy ↗- HORIZONS
- 2026-09-29T16:00:58Z
- MOST
- 2026-09-29T16:38:25Z
- MPC
- 2026-09-29T16:00:58Z
- RENDER
- No successful update yet
- SBDB
- 2026-09-29T16:00:58Z
When a source fails, its last valid snapshot stays available with its original timestamp. An expired prediction is labeled as needing an update.
Download the records
Normalized data, original source snapshots, and processing metadata are provided for inspection. Times are UTC unless a source field explicitly says otherwise.
Acknowledgments
Based on observations obtained with the Samuel Oschin Telescope as part of the Zwicky Transient Facility project. ZTF is supported by the National Science Foundation and its partner institutions. See the archive’s release-specific acknowledgments for the complete institutional credits.
This website uses the NASA/IPAC Infrared Science Archive, funded by NASA and operated by the California Institute of Technology, including the Moving Object Search Tool. Orbital information and ephemerides are provided by JPL/Caltech. Observation reports are from the IAU Minor Planet Center. Naming information is from the IAU Working Group Small Bodies Nomenclature.