Palomar Transient Factory

The Palomar Transient Factory (PTF), observatory code I41, is an astronomical survey using a wide-field survey camera designed to search for optical transient and variable sources such as variable stars, supernovae, asteroids and comets. The project completed commissioning in summer 2009, and was planned to continue until at least 2012. PTF has since been succeeded by the Intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (iPTF).

The fully automated system includes an automated realtime data reduction pipeline, a dedicated photometric follow up telescope, and a full archive of all detected sources. The survey is performed with a 12K×8K, 7.8 square degree CCD array camera re-engineered for the 1.2-m Samuel Oschin Telescope at Palomar Observatory. The survey camera achieved first light on 13 December 2008.

PTF is a collaboration of Caltech, LBNL, Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, Berkeley, LCOGT, Oxford, Columbia and the Weizmann Institute. The project is led by Shrinivas Kulkarni at Caltech.

Image Subtraction for near-realtime transient detection is performed at LBNL; efforts to continue to observe interesting targets are coordinated at Caltech, and the data is processed and archived for later retrieval at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC). Photometric and spectroscopic followup of detected objects is undertaken by the automated Palomar 1.5-m telescope and other facilities provided by consortium members.

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