Sign Up

Thank you for your willingness to serve as a beta-tester of REFITT. Our goal is to provide a web platform that allows observing agents to receive prioritized targets to image and report photometry on. Before we can do this, however, we need help calibrating diverse instrumental configurations to common photometric systems and practice communicating recommendations to develop robust methods that will automate the coordination of targets across many observing agents.

Joining our team means that you agree to the following:

  1. Use REFITT responsibly.
    This means making an honest attempt to observe targets recommended by REFITT and to provide careful estimates of target photometry. For those who lack tools to do this we are happy to help process your observations and give you access to tools that allow you to do it yourself.
  2. Willingness to share your data publicly.
    You remain in control of your observations and are free to distribute it to others, but for this initial phase you agree that your observations can be shared to a broader community.
  3. Commitment to improving the service.
    We want to make REFITT fully operational and well-tested before the Rubin Observatory begins its Legacy Survey of Space and Time. At full scale we anticipate coordinating across hundreds of facilities. However, there are many obstacles to overcome before that is possible. We need help from observers like you to let us know what works, what doesn't, and what needs improvement.


Thank you for your help! By joining the research program outlined here you will join as a coauthor on any subsequent scientific papers. You will also help maximize the scientific return from the Zwicky Transient Facility -- and soon, the Rubin Observatory -- and ensure that their products successfully constrain key physical parameters that can uniquely address fundamental gaps in our understanding of the dynamic universe.