Demonstrating the Time-Domain Capabilities of the 4-m International Liquid Mirror Telescope: An Early Census of Transient and Variable Detections
Abstract
The PyLMT transient detection pipeline has been operational since November 2023, detecting transient and variable objects in the ILMT images in almost real time. Using the image subtraction technique, nearly 3700 CCD frames have been analyzed by the automated pipeline, generating nearly 23,000 alerts for the detection of verified transient candidates and cataloged variable sources. Around 21,000 of the alerts correspond to known MPC asteroids, nearly 2000 correspond to variable stars (including eclipsing binaries, RR Lyrae, Delta Scuti, T-Tauri, etc.), 509 correspond to variable AGNs (including QSOs, Seyfert galaxies, and blazars), 21 supernova candidates, and several other interesting candidates. We provide a concise overview of the detections and their significance, emphasizing the surveys potential contributions to a broad class of astrophysical and scientific cases. A transient detection dashboard called DART was developed using Streamlit to visualize and categorize candidates based on PyLMT and SIMBAD classifications. It includes cone-search functionality and displays key metadata, offering an intuitive interface that is publicly accessible. Our results demonstrate the viability of liquid mirror telescopes such as the ILMT for time-domain astronomy, emphasizing the important role that small-field survey facilities can play in systematic transient science programs.
Related
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BibTeX
@misc{pranshu2026demonstrating,
title = {{Demonstrating the Time-Domain Capabilities of the 4-m International Liquid Mirror Telescope: An Early Census of Transient and Variable Detections}},
author = {Kumar Pranshu and Kuntal Misra and Bhavya Ailawadhi and Monalisa Dubey and Naveen Dukiya and Sara Filali and Paul Hickson and Priyanshi Kumari and Gokul Singh Mehra and Vibhore Negi and Jeewan C. Pandey and Anna Pospieszalska-Surdej and Jean Surdej and Sarvesh Kumar Yadav},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.02221},
eprint = {2609.02221},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.02221},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Demonstrating the Time-Domain Capabilities of the 4-m International Liquid Mirror Telescope: An Early Census of Transient and Variable Detections
AU - Kumar Pranshu
AU - Kuntal Misra
AU - Bhavya Ailawadhi
AU - Monalisa Dubey
AU - Naveen Dukiya
AU - Sara Filali
AU - Paul Hickson
AU - Priyanshi Kumari
AU - Gokul Singh Mehra
AU - Vibhore Negi
AU - Jeewan C. Pandey
AU - Anna Pospieszalska-Surdej
AU - Jean Surdej
AU - Sarvesh Kumar Yadav
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/02
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.02221
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.02221
AB - The PyLMT transient detection pipeline has been operational since November 2023, detecting transient and variable objects in the ILMT images in almost real time. Using the image subtraction technique, nearly 3700 CCD frames have been analyzed by the automated pipeline, generating nearly 23,000 alerts for the detection of verified transient candidates and cataloged variable sources. Around 21,000 of the alerts correspond to known MPC asteroids, nearly 2000 correspond to variable stars (including eclipsing binaries, RR Lyrae, Delta Scuti, T-Tauri, etc.), 509 correspond to variable AGNs (including QSOs, Seyfert galaxies, and blazars), 21 supernova candidates, and several other interesting candidates. We provide a concise overview of the detections and their significance, emphasizing the surveys potential contributions to a broad class of astrophysical and scientific cases. A transient detection dashboard called DART was developed using Streamlit to visualize and categorize candidates based on PyLMT and SIMBAD classifications. It includes cone-search functionality and displays key metadata, offering an intuitive interface that is publicly accessible. Our results demonstrate the viability of liquid mirror telescopes such as the ILMT for time-domain astronomy, emphasizing the important role that small-field survey facilities can play in systematic transient science programs.
ER -