ZTF Public Data Releases

Overview

Half of the ZTF camera time and half of the SEDM time are dedicated to a 2-night cadence public survey of the entire northern sky in g & r bands. As with ZTF-I, alerts will be distributed in real time to the brokers but with the addition of forced photometry in the alert packets. SEDM spectra will be uploaded daily to TNS. See the section to the right to find out more about the public survey release schedule.

The ZTF Science Data System (ZSDS) is housed at IPAC-Caltech. This consists of the data processing pipelines, data archives, infrastructure for long term curation, and the services for data retrieval and visualization. An overview of the ZSDS is provided in
Masci et al. 2018, The Zwicky Transient Facility: Data Processing, Products, and Archive , PASP, 131, 995.

Pipelines, data products (including alert packets), product retrieval, formats, and usage are described in more detail in:
The ZSDS Explanatory Supplement: Pipelines, Definitions, Data Products & Access.

Access ZTF data (via IRSA)

Release Schedule in ZTF 3

ZTF 3 runs between Jan 1, 2025 and Dec 31, 2026

There will be two major public data release during ZTF 3. Public data releases include data taken during the NSF-supported observing time of the ZTF survey. The ZTF-3 release process has been reconfigured to deliver data faster. This means that:
* Images will be released on a 60-day sliding window (from acquisition)
* Light curves will be recalculated every 12 months, and include data from up to two months before the release month
* Alerts and forced-photometry will continue to be available realtime

Proprietary data will be released similarly, except after 550 days (~18 months)

TLDR images will be out faster and light curves on a predicable schedule.

You can find the schedule for all upcoming data releases in the table below. The schedule for past releases is available here.