The universe is full of astronomical objects and events that change on human timescales, known collectively as transients. The transient sky is home to a variety of phenomena: neutron star mergers, black hole–driven stellar disruptions, massive star explosions, white dwarf detonations, stellar mass ejections, binary star interactions, and many more. Observing these events uncovers clues to the dynamic and chemical processes which form and shape our universe, helping to answer some of the biggest questions in astronomy. 

Time domain astronomy at Steward Observatory focuses on using high-cadence, multi-band, multi-messenger observations to study transients as they rapidly evolve and reveal important insights into the evolution and histories of the systems they arise from. Steward Observatory’s wealth of observational and computational resources provide unparalleled opportunities to observe and study transient phenomena in real time, making us a key player in the golden era of time domain astronomy ushered in by JWST, the Rubin Observatory, the Roman Space Telescope, and the GMT.