Discovery, classification, and scientific exploration of transient\n events from the Catalina Real-time Transient Survey

Abstract

Exploration of the time domain - variable and transient objects and phenomena\n- is rapidly becoming a vibrant research frontier, touching on essentially\nevery field of astronomy and astrophysics, from the Solar system to cosmology.\nTime domain astronomy is being enabled by the advent of the new generation of\nsynoptic sky surveys that cover large areas on the sky repeatedly, and\ngenerating massive data streams. Their scientific exploration poses many\nchallenges, driven mainly by the need for a real-time discovery,\nclassification, and follow-up of the interesting events. Here we describe the\nCatalina Real-Time Transient Survey (CRTS), that discovers and publishes\ntransient events at optical wavelengths in real time, thus benefiting the\nentire community. We describe some of the scientific results to date, and then\nfocus on the challenges of the automated classification and prioritization of\ntransient events. CRTS represents a scientific and a technological testbed and\nprecursor for the larger surveys in the future, including the Large Synoptic\nSurvey Telescope (LSST) and the Square Kilometer Array (SKA).\n