[1][2] Examples include gamma-ray bursts,[3][4] gravitational microlensing, supernovae, novae, or X-ray transients, but there are no restrictions on content matter.
While working at Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrische Physik in Garching, Bob Rutledge began the site after his experience in using the web in 1995-6 as an aid in the discovery and characterization (by multiple scientists working informally and collaboratively) of the Bursting Pulsar, GRO J1744-28.
Operations began in earnest at the department of astronomy of UC Berkeley where Rutledge was a visiting post-doctoral scholar with Prof. Lars Bildsten.
The service received international attention following a March 20, 2018 when Peter Dunsby submitted a report of a "very bright optical transient near the Trifid and Lagoon Nebulae".
[11] Dunsby later described the incident to Newsweek as "an honest mistake arising from simply not checking what else was in my camera frame, during an automated astrophotography session and of very little consequence in the scheme of things.