A really simple broker and archive interface for the Zwicky Transient Facility public alert stream
Las Cumbres Observatory is pleased to make available a set of tools for general access to the public alerts from the ZTF survey.
These tools allow users to find and inspect alerts over any period of time and to apply filters to show a subset of interest for a specific science case. Alerts can then be downloaded in their entireties.
MARS relieves users of having to download the entire ZTF daily tarfile, and to write and run software to isolate the small number of alerts that are of interest.
Interaction with MARS is either through a webpage (mars.lco.global) or through APIs that provide the same functionality but can be embedded in a user's own software system. Instructions for doing this (as well as general documentation about what is provided) are available at the website.
Currently, alerts are ingested from the daily tarfile for the previous night, but we expect to soon ingest and make available alerts in real time, as they are issued.
Please forward this to other researchers or groups that you think would be interested.
Development of MARS was supported by a grant from the Zegar Family Foundation.
